And Life Goes On
by Love-your-suit
Summary: Starting from where the movie left off, showing a possible future. Lots of Comics references. Rated for sex, violence, foul language, and adult themes. Pairings: Tony/Pepper, Happy/Pepper, Tony/OC, OC/OC.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: There is Tony/Pepper in here. Gotta squint a little in the early chapters, but it's there in the end. Long fic!

Pairings:

Tony/Pepper

Happy/Pepper

Tony/Lucy(OC)

Lucas(OC)/Arleen(OC)

Cast:

Tony Stark - Robert Downey Jr.

Pepper Potts - Gwyneth Paltrow

Happy Hogan - Jon Farveau

Obadiah Stane - Jeff Bridges

Jarvis - Paul Bettany

Lucas Donovan - Stephen Dorff

Arleen Makem - Jocette Coote

Lucy - Sienna Miller

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She stared at the flat screen, at his face on it, at the flashes from the cameras that were going off. Her mouth had fallen open in a perfect o as she stared a little longer before coming to her senses, shaking her head and snatching her purse. She headed out into the hall; she could hear the roar of stunned and excited reporters drowning out the usual click of her heels as she exited into the sunny California air and eyed the man standing at his post by the custom Rolls Phantom. The look in her steel blue eyes would speak volumes. She shook her head again, slipped into the back of the car, and waited for the man of the hour to make his exit. What on earth had he been thinking?

Harold raised his brows behind his sunglasses. "Everything alright, Miss Pepper?" he asked quietly, bending at the hips to better view her from his position. Tony was still swarmed by reporters.

She pursed her lips a moment trying to ease her temper down a notch or two. She looked at Happy and shook her head strongly, "No. "It was obvious she wasn't happy at all, "Why is it he can't do what he's supposed to? Just once. Once. Not all the time, but just this once it would have been nice." She tucked a strand of light red behind her ear and crossed her legs, trying not to tap her foot as she did so.

Tony finally made it out to the car and he slid into the back seat with a smile on his face, amused by everyone scrambling over themselves to speak to him. He laughed and glanced over at Pepper, to see if she shared his amusement. And when he noticed she obviously did not his face fell. "What's wrong, Peps?"

Her eyes widened at his laughter, he was finding this funny? If it hadn't been the man she was looking at, she wouldn't believe it for a moment, but when it came to her boss little surprised her anymore, "I can honestly say I'm not shocked you didn't do what you were told, but for once it would have been nice." She looked out the window for a moment, her knuckles turning white as she keeps her hand in a fist, "Do you realize what you've done? You've just told the world that you fly around in a metal suit as some technological superhero." It wasn't the mass amounts of work this would add to her day that bothered her, it was the threats that would come, the danger it would create for him. For all of them.

He furrowed his brows over at her. "What, worried someone is going to kidnap me? I've been there, no big deal. And if you're worried about yourself, the fact that I am a billionaire that could give any punk a shit-ton of weapons or money is threat to your life enough, I doubt a metal suit is going to change much in that department."

She almost wanted to laugh herself, but in a very cynical manner, but she refrained. She read the papers, where there were superheroes, there were villains, and worse. It was like living in a comic book world and now she was smack in the middle of it, "You really don't think before you speak, do you. It's not just me or you we're talking about. It's also the some odd hundred thousand you employ, their families, this city. Any of your associates." She could keep going, but she didn't, "When will you understand what you effect in this world?" She was going off, "And… some of us will lose sleep again, worried that a call will come, that your house has been blown sky high by some deranged maniac with some weird mutation…" She stopped suddenly, covering her mouth, realizing what she had said, that she had admitted she had lost sleep when he had been missing.

He furrowed his brows at her. "No one is going to blow up my house. Unless it's me. And lose sleep _again_?"

Her hand dropped slowly, "Well that's true, you know I'm amazed you haven't managed to do that yet." She looked ahead a moment and then back at him, "Well if you had received a call from your boss' best friend saying he's either dead or kidnapped… wouldn't you lose some sleep?" She forced herself to relax a little, still clearly not pleased with his decision to out himself as Iron Man, "I was worried, everyone was."

He clenched his jaw a bit. "I understand that, Peps, but this is different. I'm in control now. No one can get me."

She thought to herself, for my sanity's sake, "I hope so." She glanced towards Happy in the front and back to Tony for a moment before choosing to look straight ahead, " I really do." But a part of her wasn't so sure he was as in control as he thought he was, "By the way, you've already gotten sixteen messages from toy companies wanting to market you." She chuckled a little, clearly amused by this at least.

He laughed. "Only if I get to do my own voice work." he said, shrugging his shoulders.  
She managed a small smile, "I'll see what I can do." A part of her still wanted to scream at him, to tell him how ridiculous she thought this whole thing was, but the part of her that saw the changes it had made in him overruled and for the moment she refrained for the most part, "I'm still not very happy, but what was done is done and we'll just have to make the most of it. Deal with it. I doubt this will be as bad as the time you decided to try to throw a party on every floor of the Stark Tower in New York." She shuddered slightly at the memories of that fiasco.

"That was fun. 'Don't worry about cleaning up, we'll move to another floor. Let's Congo there! Somebody grab my butt!' " he smiled innocently.

"At least this Iron Man business will keep you fully occupied for the most part." She hated how he could change the topics and put her mind at ease for the time being. She noted they were almost back to the Mansion.

"Like I'm not already fully occupied?" he asked, perking a brow at her in amusement.

Her eyes narrowed slightly, almost amused herself, "You know what I mean Tony." She arched her own brows a little, "At least you won't get bored trying to save the world."

"We can hope, anyway. I get bored pretty easily." he said, shrugging his shoulders as the car pulled to a stop.

She shook her head slowly and rolled her eyes, "Well I hate to break it to you, but you've just made yourself a full time superhero." She waited for the car stop fully before she open the door and perched to get out, "There's no getting tired or bored of that." She stepped out, fairly sure she had the last word on the matter as she began to outline various adjustments needing to be made to her schedule on her Blackberry.

"Superheroes can stop. Happens all the time." he said, suddenly right at her side again.

"It's called retirement Tony, and you've still got a good few years in you." She gave him a quick once over with her eyes and headed inside, still tapping at her Blackberry, "Though knowing you, you'll probably being doing this when you're seventy."

"Yeah. The suit will probably be my coffin." He mumbled with a shrug of his shoulders, his mind already running off to other places and not keeping track on his mouth.

That statement made an icy chill run down her spine, she looked at him, stopping as she did so, the concern not hidden in her eyes. Her eyes always seemed to betray her, "I wish you wouldn't say things like that."

He paused, looking to her. He scanned her eyes, quiet for a long time, before whispering, "I'm sorry, Miss Potts." and he sounded like he really meant it. The look in his eyes said the same.

It was moments like this that made her wish she could trust that he wouldn't be the man she knew all too well, that she wasn't so torn between what was safe, and sure, and everything that wasn't standing before her. She gave him one more lingering glance and looked back at her Blackberry, "What would you like ordered for dinner?" She returned to business as usual. Business was her safety zone.

He fights the small singe to his pride and shrugs. "Italian."

She nods and moves off heading for the private closed door world of his home office, which in reality was her office as she used it far more than he ever would. She makes the call in order as she walks, ordering just enough for him, she had plans tonight, as did his ever faithful driver/body guard. A part of her felt guilty for keeping it a secret that she and Happy were dating. She wasn't quite sure how it happened, but it had. He had asked one night during Tony's disappearance to get her mind off all the stress and she had said yes ever since then each time he had asked. He treated her well, as a gentleman would… but was this really what she wanted? Was she being honest with herself?

Tony hung around with a scotch and gave Pepper a weird look when there was only one thing of Italian. "You're not eating? Are you dieting, Miss Potts?" he teased.

She glanced up, "No. I have… plans." She hated saying that word around him, knowing it was going to incite curiosity in him, "I'm eating out." She tried to sound as casual as possible, eying the time as she began to look for her car keys.

"I don't like it when you have plans." He said, giving her a look. "Why do you have plans?"

She knew that was coming, "We've had this discussion before, I'm allowed to have plans." She really didn't want to say she had a date, something told her that wouldn't be wise, but seeing as she couldn't think of anything else to say, "I have a date." She looked at him, and yet she really wasn't. This was not going to go well she was sure.

"It's not your birt-... A date?" He fell silent for a few moments, looking like he may hunt down someone. "Who do you have a date with?"

She felt the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose, but she refrained and fiddled with her car keys, "Yes a date, which I am now late for." She turned to leave when he asked his next question she stopped, "You know him." Why was she being so evasive? She closed her eyes a moment and sighed, " I need to go. I'll see you tomorrow." She moved towards the door almost a little too swiftly, she wanted so desperately to avoid this conversation going any further.

He was right on her heels and he grabbed her wrist, gentle, not in a trapping sort of way. "Who do you have a date with?" he repeated, his voice low.

_Please don't do this._ she thought as she turned and looked at him, "Why does it matter?" She gently removed her wrist from his hand. His sudden closeness wasn't making this any easier, she wished she could just point blank tell him it was none of his business but she couldn't.

"I don't like it when you have plans." he repeated as if that made it better, but there's something else in his eyes.

"I'm sorry." The words had so many meanings as they left her lips and she reached for the door again, turning the knob softly and opening it seeking the freedom of the outside world, "Goodnight Tony." She stepped out, wishing she could erase the look in his eyes that was now burned into her memory.

He opened his mouth to speak and his heart fell as she closed the door. He looked away from the door and walked away, ignoring his dinner.

She paused for a moment, turning and looking back at the door. Suddenly her Blackberry buzzed and she jumped, answering it hurriedly, "Sorry. I'm on my way. No, everything's fine. Promise. See you soon." She gave the door one final glance before going to her car, getting inside and heading off. She instantly flicked the satellite radio off as some love song about some guy telling a girl he could love her more came on.


	2. Chapter 2

She reached the restaurant and sat there for a moment gathering her senses about her, making sure she showed no sign of what had just happened, that she looked okay before she got out and headed inside.

Hogan was there and he smiled when he saw her, moving to the door to let her inside the restaurant and he touched the small of her back gently, dropping the lightest kiss to her temple. He led her over to a table and pulled out her chair for her.

It felt like going through the motions to her, she wondered if he felt the same… She looked at him, studied him a moment, and was sure it was something more to him. She smiled pleasantly and settled into the chair, "Thank you." She looked over the menu slowly, her mind distant and very much elsewhere.

He smiled to her, relaxing, happy to be around her. He quietly asked her how her day was, and at receiving no response, he reached out and touched her hand, leaning over the table a bit. "Pepper?" he asked quietly.

She jumped startled which instantly pulled her back into here and now. The menu in her hand fell with a small noise to the table and she looked at the man sitting across the small, round table from her, "Sorry." She quickly gathered her senses about her, forcing everything else to the back of her mind, "It was long, hectic… the usual."

"Hun, do you want to go home?" he asked quietly, leaning closer, taking her hands in his, running his thumb along her knuckles.

"No." She was hungry, the food smelled good around them, "I'm fine. Just need to switch my brain from work mode to not work mode." She was rambling and not completely sure she was fully making sense, "I guess I'm still stressing over what he did, what he said. It worries me." She took a sip of water, holding the stemmed glass with her free hand.

"It'll blow over like everything else does with him." he reassured her, smiling gently.

She doubted that very much, but didn't say so out loud, "Anyhow, enough about… work." _Yes, think of him as work, make him something impersonal._ She looked over the menu again and then glanced back to Happy, "I'm ready to order." She'd let him motion the waiter over, she let him take charge because frankly it was nice not to have to do everything for once.

He ordered for them and decided to talk to her about the possibility of them vacationing somewhere soon to try and get her stress relieved. "Think you need it." He finished up his spiel, looking at her.

He had a point, but could she? It was so tempting especially under the recent developments. She had all those vacation hours just sitting there and collecting dust. Some where tropical, where she could lay out and enjoy the sun, " I'll think about it. I promise."

He gave her a look, quietly thanking the waiter as their plates came.

She sighed, "I just don't know if it's a good idea." She eyed her food and slowly took a bite, watching him as she did so, chewing slowly and thinking as she did so, "I want to." _Part of me wants to._ she thought to herself. "I should, I mean I've never taken one in all these years… so, really, I should." She was attempting to talk herself into it.

"Yes, you really should. C'mon, Hun, it'll be fun." he whispered, smiling to her.

She had a very bad feeling about this idea. The bad feeling being that _he_ would insist that _he_ gets to go too. She kept this thought to herself however, "I'll see what I can do." She smiled a little, "Fun? What is this fun you speak of?" She teased lightly.

"Long massages, and nice warm water, and whatever else you want. We can even leave our phones at home and get some prepaid ones just for the trip so the boss can't be on our ear." he said, playing with her fingers gently.

She almost laughed, but didn't. This was Tony Stark he was talking about. She had joked once that the man should just change his name to Mr. Technology. She smiled, "Sounds good to me." She was saying that more for herself than any other purpose.

"You sure?" he asked, leaning in a little more.

_Not completely._ "Sure." She hoped she sounded convincing as she ate one more bite of food and put her fork down, "The more I think about it, the more you're right. I do need some time away from work." And hopefully work would stay where it belonged.

He gave her a look, but accepted it as a yes, smiling. "Tony can deal with the mess he has created for himself. You don't need that extra stress."

"You forget his messes are my job." And they were, if not for her that man's life would be total and utter chaos she was sure and if she was honest. It didn't stress her out quite as much as everyone assumed, including Hogan. Kickboxing class once a week was a wonderful stress reliever, "But you have a point… there will be some messes now that I won't be able to help him with."

"Really, just let him sit in it for a while. He deserves it. You always save his ass, Pepper." he said, shaking his head.

"This last time… he saved mine." In a way he became her hero, charging in and saving her. Even straight laced all work and no play Virginia "Pepper" Potts had the fantasy of most every woman about their own knight in shining armor, "But he does need to learn to stand on his own, you're right."

He readily agreed, but easily shifted the subject to small talk until they went their separate ways that evening.

Sitting in the home office at Stark Manor the next morning, Pepper eyed the hours of vacation time she had again, and almost laughed. She hadn't taken a vacation day ever, not even before she became Tony Stark's right hand woman. A part of her want to just submit the paper work and not exactly tell him, but then that wouldn't exactly work. What was she so afraid of? She shut her eyes tightly at the thoughts that flooded her mind thanks to that one. Slowly, she stood from the desk chair, smoothed her skirt down and headed out and across the living room, her heels clicking on the floor as she went. She figured he'd be downstairs, tinkering either at the suit or at his cars or at something. She took each step carefully and deliberately slow… which made her silently growl at herself to quit prolonging it already. She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders and entered her pass code, striding into the basement/garage/work shop with purpose, "Tony?"

"Miss Potts." he returned, half inside a car engine. His old jeans had grease stains, old and new, covering the legs in hand-shaped marks. A wrench stuck out of his back right pocket.

She strode over in the direction of his voice and looked down, it was an odd day if he wasn't at least semi covered in engine grease, "I was just coming down to let you know I plan very much to take some vacation time soon." This wasn't so hard, "I didn't realize how much I actually had accumulated and really, it's silly for all that time to just be sitting there."

He knocked his head against something within the engine, hard. A loud string of curses followed and he finally pulled himself out of the engine, his face smeared with oil and grease, his hair a mess. "What?" he asked for confirmation.

She cringed a little as he hit his head, "I'm going to take some vacation time." She said again, giving the shorter version however as she took a small step back, the smell of oil and grease very strong, and she really didn't want any of it to get on her shoes either, suede was hard enough to keep clean as it was without the threat of grease and oil.

"No you're not. I need to here. I can't tie my shoes without you, remember?" he said, rubbing his hands off on a rag.

She pursed her lips a moment, "It's only going to be a week, you'll be fine." She smiled just a little and made an attempt to lighten the situation a little, "And I'll make sure you have slip on, no tie shoes while I'm gone." Her tone held that sense of subtle sarcasm she possessed.

"What about the other 8 digits of my SSN?" he asked, frowning. The look in his eyes said it was far more than just that, that he wanted her there for something else, but he was warring with it, trying to hide it.

"Jarvis can help you with that; I'll make sure he's updated with all your appointments for that week and so on." She was trying to ignore the look in his eyes, glancing a little to the left of his face as she spoke, "I doubt that…" her voice became suddenly quiet, "you'll even miss me. It'll be almost like I never even left, Jarvis can even imitate my voice if you'd like." She'd do whatever she could to make it easier on him, but she knew in truth the only way to make it easier on him was not to go.

His brows drew down and he set his jaw. "Hogan file for his vacation time too?" he asked, turning away, going back to his engine. He sounded like a mix of angry and defeated.

She had been ready for him to say anything, just not that and she knew she couldn't lie to him… this only proved that, "How long have you know?" Apparently they hadn't been as sneaky as she thought they had been.

"Since that week you went out for both steak, and sushi, and you both looked a little tired the next morning." he said, trying to focus on the engine.

Apparently he was far more observant that she gave him credit for, "Oh." She wondered why Happy hadn't mentioned anything to her; surely he knew that Tony knew, "To answer your question, yes… he has. He talked me into this actually, made me realize that it's silly for me not to take a vacation once in a while. To let those countless hours accumulate like I have."

"Yeah. Well, go have fun." he mumbled, working on something with his back turned to her.

She stared at his back facing her, he was disappointed, annoyed, angry, and several other things she didn't want to acknowledge. It was enough to make her re-think the whole idea, to have second thoughts. She couldn't recall a moment, until now, that there had ever been this sort of tension between them and frankly she didn't like it. This wasn't going to be fixed by ordering his favorite kind of pizza or canceling his appointments for the next two days… this was going to change everything. She was torn, and defeated, herself. Without a word she headed back upstairs, pulling up the number for Harold Hogan in her blackberry and pressed call, "I can't do it, I'm sorry." She wasn't sure if he answered or if it was his voice mail as she hung up, but either way she was sure she just created more issues than she wanted as she sat down at her desk and proceeded to tear the vacation paperwork up.

Hogan was confused and he called her back a few hours later. "Pepper?" he asked her, his voice full of concern.

She sighed at her Blackberry buzzing on her desk and answered, "Miss Potts here." She frowned at the concern in his voice, "Hey." She tried to act normal as if this was just a phone call, no issues going on, nothing out of the ordinary.

"Why no vacation all of a sudden?" he asked, quiet.

She had to admit she just basically dropped a bomb on her boss, but he acted as if this meant her and Happy were getting married, it was just a little week long vacation. But she knew to him she might as well be gone a year, "I just got to thinking… remember that one time I had that cold and what happened?" The occurrence had even prompted Jarvis to call her and plead with her for help as soon as possible.

"So... set up for someone else to take over for that week, Pepper. There's a lot of other people who can tell Tony to go to a meeting." he whispered, hurt more than he should be at her suddenly calling off their vacation.

"I don't know." This was one of those moments that she wished she could scream at pull her hair for about ten seconds. Everything in life was once uncomplicated… and then she had to get involved with someone and not just any someone, but her boss' bodyguard, driver, and friend. Although she was amazed she even had time to have a quote social life, even if it was anything but normal, "I guess I should have just said, this is what is happening, I'll be back in a week's time. This is when I'm going and that is that. But I couldn't… and then I rambled, and now he's mad." She was rambling now, a sign she was nervous among other things.

"So let him be mad... I'll talk to him. Would that make it better, me asking? Please, Virginia." he whispered, holding the phone close.

She had a bad feeling about the idea, "You can try…" She seriously doubted it, but if she said no then what? She chewed her lower lip a moment, "I'm not sure what good it will do." iIf any/i, she added silently to herself. Her eyes traveled to the door of the office a little shocked she hadn't seen nor heard from Tony since their encounter downstairs, was he really that upset? It worried her.

Happy said his goodbyes in his normal, loving and caring voice that he reserved for just her, and hung up gently. Tony was working on the suit now, still angry.

She sat her phone down slowly and eyed the time. It was later than she thought; she stood and headed out of the office, figuring she better check on him. Her descent down the stairs was sober; she stood there a moment before entering her pass code and watched him, his anger still there and very evident. She stepped into the room slowly and kept a table full of random parts and tools between them, "I just came to check…to see if you wanted some dinner." She bit her lower lip and waited, unsure of what sort of reply she'd get.

"Nope." he said shortly, ripping out some wiring with more force than need be, not looking at her.

"Didn't think so." She turned on the heel of her shoe and headed towards the glass door when she stopped, turned and stood there a moment, "Just so you know, the vacation's been put off for now." With that, she turned and headed back up stairs, realizing that a part of her didn't want to leave him either… even if it was only a week. She shook her head slowly at herself as she stepped back into the main part of the house and headed for the kitchen, figuring she'd make something for her at least.

He shouted after her. "Don't stop shit for my sake, Potts. I won't extend the same hand to you!"

She was almost to the kitchen when his voice, loud, angry, filled practically the entire house. Now he was acting childish. Rolling her eyes, she strode to the intercom and hit the button for the shop, "Excuse me?" Her tone signaled of the frown on her face and the slowly growing frustration within her.

"Go on your fucking vacation. See if I care, Potts. Go on. All expenses paid by me. Have at it. I want you gone for a week." he snarled.

She had just about had it with his attitude, "What the hell is wrong with you?" This was all the more reason why she should have never even agreed to this in the first place.

"Nothing. Just go. Go on your vacation." he snapped, his tone commanding. He would never admit that his sharp, emotional outbursts were thanks to the events in Afghanistan. That he really did have PTSD, though he would keep that to his grave.

She cringed for the second time today and frowned harder. For one of the first times since she began working for him, she also felt like crying because of something he had said, and how he was acting. She had to admit it hurt, and deep. Why she didn't know, or at least wouldn't acknowledge. She shook her head and moved away from the intercom and into the kitchen for a cup of very strong coffee, she didn't care if it was the early evening.

He kicked Dummy and continued working on his suit, silent brooding anger still building.

She sipped the coffee slowly, allowing it to steady her nerves. She wasn't hungry anymore, sure they had had disagreements before, but never like this. Taking her mug with her, Pepper settled in the living room on the sofa and opened up her laptop and working on a few things, anything to keep herself busy. She worked on his schedule for the next few days and thought more on the situation, the more she thought the less she wanted to go now. Burying herself in work, she lost track of time.

He wandered upstairs at some point and he paused when he saw her. "What the fuck are you still doing here?" he asked sharply, taking refuge in his angry to keep out any hurt.

"Do you really have to take that tone?" She glanced at her watch and sighed, "I lost track of time. Excuse me." It was then she noted she was taking on a similar tone to his and closed her laptop with a resounding click.

"Your work day ended a few hours ago. You can go home." he said, going to the bar and pouring himself scotch.

She stood, sitting her laptop down on the coffee table, "I know, but it's not like I've never stayed late before." Only this time she really hadn't meant to do so. She wandered from the living room and into the office grabbing her keys and bag before returning to the living room to place her laptop in its case, "Before I go, do you need anything?" She glanced at him briefly while finished closing the case.

"No." he grumbled, sipping his scotch and sitting down on the bar.

She shook her head slowly, "Alright. Have a good night." She picked her case up after slinging her bag over her shoulder and moved for the door.

He said nothing, just ignored her, sipping his scotch and glaring into the kitchen, away from her.

She paused at the door and glanced back at him briefly. He had never, in all the years she had worked for him, not said something as she left for the day. She didn't even get a grunt out of him. She wondered if he would be in this same mood tomorrow and the day after. She gripped the door handle, turned it, and walked out towards her car. She tossed her laptop case into the back and settled into the driver's seat for a moment and stared off, thinking. She knew what his problem was, but she refused to acknowledge it because it would only create more problems. If she acknowledged it, she'd have to acknowledge more than she wanted to.


	3. Chapter 3

Tony was very business like, much like he was shortly after Afghanistan, with her the very next day. He was ready for his workday, in his suit, drinking a cup of coffee.

She was puzzled a little that morning when she walked in and there he was suit, tie and all. Usually part of her morning routine was either getting him out of bed or getting him out of the shop, usually the latter. She decided that maybe he was trying to make up for yesterday and not be difficult… but she doubted it, she also decided she just might be reading too much into it all, "You look…um, ready to face the day." She smiled and was still working to wash the surprise from her face, "Going to the offices today?" She flipped through his mail slowly that she picked up from the box on the way in and made the usual piles of important, newspapers and fan mail.

"Yep." he grunted at her, not really looking at her, sipping his coffee still, his laptop off to one side.

"That's good. There's a board meeting today. Won't they be in for a surprise?" At least he was grunting, that was a small improvement. She blinked at his laptop and then looked at him, " Don't tell me you were up all night in one of those chat rooms again…" She eyed him closer, either he hadn't been up all night, or he had consumed an insane amount of coffee. Speaking of which, she moved over to the coffee pot and poured herself some, carefully taking a small sip considering who made it. Strangely it wasn't bad and she took a bigger sip.

"No. I wasn't." he said, glaring at his screen as he clicked around with his free hand.  
Her curiosity was getting the better of her, "What are you up to?" He rarely did work on his laptop, if ever as far as she knew.

"Stocks. News. My RSS feeds." he mumbled, getting up and leaving the kitchen.

She shook her head and tailed after him, "Is this how it's going to be from now on?" It was like this was round two. She couldn't recall them having a round two. Well, once… over something silly he wanted to do for his birthday one year, but they had reached a compromise after about two days.

"What does it matter? I'll be your boss. You'll be my assistant. End of fucking story. What you want, right?" he growled over his shoulder at her, his broad shoulders squared and pulled back, as if he were at attention.

"You have no idea what I want or don't want." She regretted the words the moment they left her mouth, but she took a deep breath to keep herself calm, "We've always been that, that hasn't changed. Nothing has changed… but you're acting like…like… I don't know, just not like yourself I guess."

"Really? We've always acted strictly like boss and assistant? I don't think so. And maybe this is the real me and I've been stringing you along all these years." he snapped, moving away.

"Well, no not exactly strictly. I always believed over the years, and all the craziness, perhaps we have a sort of friendship, but apparently I was mistaken." She rolled her eyes at his last statement, "That's a load of bullshit if I've ever heard any. And this certainly isn't the Tony Stark I know and…I… I know you better than anyone, except for Jarvis."

"Look. You already made your choice clear, alright?" he snapped. His voice softened and he lowered his eyes. "So just leave me alone about it." he said, pushing his hands into his pockets and moving outside to meet up with Happy.

She said nothing, until he left, only then did she sigh heavily and move for the office, "I'm just dating him…that's it." She had made no choices, and it wasn't like she hadn't dated before. She sat down at her desk and brought up the usual screens on the computer and began her day, she had a funny feeling it would be a very quiet one.

Tony went about his day and returned after he had finished all his meetings and conferences. He moved in, changed, snagged a large glass of scotch, and went down to the workshop to continue working on the suit.

The more she thought as she tried to focus on her usual tasks, the more and more she decided and talked herself into the fact she did need a vacation, that maybe time away from Tony would be good, that maybe it would be good for him to. Instantly she picked up her Blackberry with purpose and dialed Happy. As soon as he answered she wasted little time, "I hear Hawaii's nice this time of year."

He smiled brightly. "It is nice round now. That a yes to my offer, Miss Pepper?" he asked, smiling more.

She hesitated for a moment, "It is. I think time away will do… all some good." Yet why did she feel guilty? She knew why. She moved the mouse over and clicked on the web, bringing it up she typed in Hawaiian vacations and began to look about for a good hotel and so forth.

Happy was his name sake for once, and he expressed his excitement in his quiet way.

She smiled as the conversation became silent a moment, "I'm looking at some things right now, I'll see what I can set up." She was used to doing this sort of thing, it was second nature for her as she found a decent package and began to get it squared away.

"You sure? I could set it up.." he offered in a whisper, smiling gently.

"No, I've got it…" She stopped herself for a moment right in the middle of typing her credit card number in, "Unless you want to do it of course." She didn't want to overstep her bounds with him… but they really hadn't set up any bounds exactly.

He continued to smile softly. "Go ahead, Pepper. I'll set up the next one, hmm?"

She finished setting up the vacation, and her conversation with Happy, shortly there after. She simply didn't talk to Tony about it, and continued on with her week.


	4. Chapter 4

The day had begun overcast. By lunch the wind was blowing harder than normal, and soon rain pelted against the large glass windows of Stark Manor. It was a rare winter storm with lightning and thunder.

Pepper had spent the day practically locked in the office, the mood same as it had been for the past week, she wondered if it would be the same or worse when she returned from her vacation which started on Monday. She had to admit the upside to the rift that now existed between her and Tony made it possible to get a lot of work done, so much in fact she was finishing out the day by playing solitaire on the computer.

Jarvis had been giving her updates on the storm; he was in the middle of one when the power suddenly flickered, "Great." She glanced up, blue eyes narrowing slowly as it flickered again, went off for a second and came back. She glanced out the floor to ceiling windows and beheld a sheet of rain falling and palm trees whipping about. She quickly closed out the card game, gathered her things up and began to hurry out of the office, pausing at the intercom for a moment, "I'm going to head home be--" She didn't even get to finish the sentence, her voice was drowned out by a particularly close crash of thunder and the power failed, throwing Stark Manor into darkness, illuminated only by the occasional flash of lighting. Pepper sighed heavily, "Now what." She muttered, cursing slightly under her breath.

Tony had been lucky enough to have not been trapped in the shop. He had been in the kitchen. He was cursing and trying to find his way through the house. His arc reactor gave him a bit of light, but he had to take off his shirt to increase the output. He came up to Pepper and commented, "Looks like we're stuck here."

Her back at the kitchen, she jumped at the sound of a voice behind her before realizing it was Tony, "What? No." She was determined to go home; she'd make it… possibly. She turned, finding the illumination of the reactor oddly comforting and sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose a moment, "I can't stay here..." She frowned, not thrilled with the idea at all, the less she had to deal with him right now the better frankly.

"Well... I can try to get into the shop. But I would have to remove the arc reactor and you would have to follow me with it and replace it." He said, glancing at her.

She stared at him, "Fine." She sat her things down at the table she knew was at her right and folded her arms, "It shouldn't be off all night I'm sure." She seriously hoped not. Slowly she reached down and undid the ankle straps on her shoes and slipped out of them, because honestly who walked around the dark in stilettos?

Tony wandered back for the living room, hoping she would follow, fighting the fear creeping up his spine at the darkness and the captivity in the house. It brought him back to Afghanistan.

She gabbing her laptop case, she followed him into the living room, "Well I still have some battery life, might as well use the time to be productive." She managed to find the sofa and settled on one end of it and began to pull out her laptop and turned it on, it created some illumination but not a lot. However she found herself not paying attention to it, but glancing over the screen at him, she hadn't even opened any windows yet.

He was settled in a chair, his back pressed into it, his feet up and on the cushion, a posture he never had, and he was trying to eat something, probably one of the many muffins or bagels Pepper often brought over.

The silence was only disrupted by the crash of thunder that echoed through the air. She wasn't one for silence much at all, and especially not tension ridden silence, "So how is the suit?" It was a completely random question, but she knew he had been working on it and possibly making modifications. Her eyes traveled towards the fireplace, "A fire might make it a little less dark." She suggested, knowing he had some issues with the dark ever since his escape and return from Afghanistan.

He glanced at the fireplace. He shivered, but it was invisible in the darkness, and shook his head. "No. It's fine." last thing he wanted was the fireplace going. "You can, if you'd like. I can leave you be.." he mumbled, ignoring her question about the suit, knowing she didn't like it.

She set her laptop aside and closed it, "No. I'd prefer the company…right now." She wrapped her arms lightly around her upper body a moment, "I never did like storms like these." The tension was almost suffocating, "I think I will go and get the candelabras from the dining room however." She stood, smoothing her skirt and began to pad in that direction, hands out in front of her as she felt her way.

He stood and followed after her. He grabbed her wrist, able to see a little better than she could, not needing to have his hand out. He tried to ignore how warm her skin felt in his hand.

She jumped slightly, her heart skipping a small beat as he was suddenly there with his hand about her slender wrist, "Where did you learn to be so… sneaky." Her free hand rested a moment over her heart before she started moving again, letting him lead the way, the soft blue glow of the reactor making it easier to see the way, "Do you have any more candles?"

"Pepper, why would I have candles? I'm not romantic, I'm not gay. And I'm not a woman." he said, shaking his head. "And I've always been quiet barefoot."

She rolled her eyes, "Silly me, I forgot, you just sleep with women, you don't romance them. What was I thinking?" Her sarcasm was obvious and as they entered the dining room, she pulled away from him and grabbed the gold candelabras with their nondescript white candles standing tall and ghost like. She decided one was enough and left the other there, each held six candles and six would be plenty for the living room, "At least I know for a fact you do have matches." She headed towards the doorway leading back down the small hall that would take them back to the living room.

He walked beside her, lighting her way, and felt a small stab of pain when she mentioned he didn't romance women, despite the obvious sarcasm.

She sighed, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. It's not my business to begin with and secondly…" She looked away from him, glancing down a little, "it's not like you have to do anything to get a woman's attention all she has to do is see you and it's a done deal." She was trying not to ramble, but did a very poor job of it and plus she was sure she just stuck her foot in her mouth.

He shook his head, not responding, just finding her the matches and holding them out for her so she could light the candles.

She took the matches and lit the candles, "Thank you." She said, handing the match book back to him. She hated the way she felt, like nothing she said or did seemed right anymore… that he was constantly angry at her. She hated it very much, "Why can't things be like they were?" She looked at him, her entire demeanor very serious.

"You're with Harold." he mumbled, shrugging his shoulders, moving away from her.

"That's the reason for… for all this?" She shook her head, "For the cold shoulder, the silent treatments, the glares and indifference is all because I'm dating?" She should have known, it made sense and yet it didn't, "I've dated before Tony." She folded her arms.

"You've never set up vacation with dates before. You've never looked tired like you do in the mornings, so I know you're going over to his place, or him to yours. You've never been with anyone this long either." he mumbled, settling back down in a chair.

She shook her head, "Yes and in two weeks we could easily end up just being friends again. It's not like there's a ring on my finger." She even held out her hand to prove such, "As for the vacation… Happy was right I do need one; sometimes people need someone else to bring things to their attention that they're missing. I didn't realize how much I did need time off until I was told in a serious manner." She had nothing to say about some of her recently late nights, "And he isn't the only boyfriend I've ever had… had late nights with."

"I know. I know every time you've had a late night." he mumbled, which was true. He wasn't sure why the pain of seeing her tired in the mornings was so strong now, when before he had just been wondering why he wasn't able to get her in bed if others were.

"Not every late night." She muttered and sighed, "Things aren't as serious as you seem to think they are." And they weren't for starters no mentions of the L word had occurred yet anyways and somehow Pepper was all too sure it would come from Happy first and because of that she felt guilty as if she was stringing the man along.

"Yeah. Every one." he said, shaking his head at her lightly. "And it's still more serious than anyone else you've been with while in my employ."

"No. Not every single one…" She tucked a strand of red back behind her ear, "There were some you weren't here for, but they weren't those kind of nights at all." She was referring to his time missing, when she didn't know if she would get a phone call in the middle of the night saying her boss was dead. She didn't sleep much during that time if at all. It was then that she had found some solace in Happy's companionship, he had been there for her and one thing had led to another obviously. She didn't want to admit that he was right about that.

He knew exactly what she was talking about, and he just glanced down to his shoes, his hands going into the pockets of his jeans. He didn't respond, there was no way to respond.

She knew the underlined reason behind his attitude towards her and Happy dating and being together… it was always in the back of her mind, the moment that could've been on that balcony, how she had basically told him no, never before that press conference and his countless other attempts. Some days it was like a knife in her back because she knew she was the only woman in the world that broke Tony Stark's heart and in a way it broke hers too. And now more than ever she felt defeated and torn over it all.

Tony didn't talk much the rest of the night. But he had been quiet for a while. He lit the fireplace for her as he moved off to bed, thankful he had had his door open at the time of the power outage, as Jarvis controlled the locks on the doors and thus any door that wasn't open at the time of the power outage was locked tight. He figured the lights would be on at some point and so he said a good night to Pepper before he left. He left on his jeans as he got into his bed, unable to sleep, the paranoia still settled in his spine and his heart heavy.

She spent the majority of the night simply playing solitaire on her laptop until the battery finally ran out. After that she laid there on the sofa and thought a lot about things… about what she really wanted, what was best and other things. She felt caught, stuck and knew no right way to go from here. She didn't want to hurt anyone, especially not Tony or Happy. Soon she felt herself begun to feel frustrated and the more she thought the more she knew what she needed to do, one she'd have to break it to Happy that she was going to take this vacation alone, she needed to do a lot more thinking and she needed to be alone to do so. This would probably make Tony happy to some extent, but she'd make it very well known she wasn't going alone for him, she was going alone for her. At some point shortly after making her decision she drifted off into a slightly restless sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

The vacation had been nice, relaxing, refreshing and very enjoyable. Except for the small sunburn she had gotten the second day there, but luckily the Hotel's spa had helped her take care of it and now her skin merely retained a nice golden tan instead of irritated redness or fading pink. Despite the freedom of not having to come into work every day, Pepper was glad to get back to the regular routine of her life. Up at five, showered and dressed by six and out the door shortly after. She arrived at Stark Manor by six thirty and walked through the door heading for the home office when suddenly she stopped, turned around and glided back into the living room. Something was wrong, different. She took a moment, looked around and then she spotted it… there was a small pink fluffy pillow in the corner just to the left of the fire place and it read Princess. She also noted black furniture that had once nicely and manly contrasted the white sofa was gone, replaced with red furniture, "What in the world…" She had half a mind to pinch herself, sure she was dreaming.

There was also food in the fridge that Tony would never touch. Not with a 10 foot pole. Like cottage cheese with pieces of fruit in it, and a large piece of chocolate cake. Tony was still in his room, asleep, and was not alone.

She decided, though still effectively trying to convince herself that it was all probably left over things from some weird party he had put on, Pepper check in with Jarvis, instructed that Mr. Stark was still in bed, which was not surprising… however before Jarvis could inform her of anything else, Pepper had barged per usual into his bedroom like any other day, however she stopped dead in her tracks at the other form sleeping next to him… normally it wouldn't shock or surprise her in the least, but the fact this was the first woman she had seen in his bed since his return from Afghanistan somehow unnerved her to a degree. Apparently he hadn't changed as much as she had thought or… hoped. Quickly she recovered however and proceeded to the foot of the bed and stood there, arms folded and cleared her throat loudly, "To—Mr. Stark, you have a mandatory meeting in exactly forty five minutes." She eyed her watch, doing her best not to glare at the lithe blonde haired figure in the bed next to him, correction… strawberry blonde. She noted the slight almost reddish hue to the woman's hair and quirked a brow at it.

Tony's head raised, his arm around Lucy and he blinked at Pepper. He groaned at her words and pushed his head into the neck of the woman he was holding.

Pepper's eyes narrowed slowly, "Tony. Up. Now." She put extra emphasis on the now as she gave a tug to the bedding, "You've been fairly good about going to meetings, let's not hurt the track record now." And then the other form in the bed stirred, "Sweetie… make your housekeeper go away." The once narrowed eyes went wide and then narrowed again quickly, the blue color of them becoming dark and stormy.

"She's not the housekeeper. She's my personal assistant." he mumbled, kissing her shoulder. "But I gotta get up anyway." he scooted away and got up, pulling on some jeans messily and waving Pepper off.

Pepper's once good mood had clearly been ruined, she eyed the woman again, "Well sometimes I do clean up Mr. Stark's messes." Her sarcasm was obvious in its intent as she turned to leave satisfied Tony wasn't going to just crawl back into bed, however she paused briefly and eyed the jeans he was pulling on, "Uh uh. Suit and tie please." She then left, going into the kitchen for a very strong cup of coffee and waited for Tony to leave before she cleaned up his current "mess".

Tony and Lucy wandered out. Tony was well dressed in one of his very expensive suits. He told Lucy to go ahead and eat whatever she wanted as he got himself a cup of coffee, looking at Pepper to finish her morning commands for him.

She was taking a sip of coffee when they walked out…together. A brow rose at this, but perhaps the woman knew what was coming, occasionally they did. She noted however that Tony was paying far more attention to her than he had others. She merely dismissed it and pulled out her Blackberry and looked over the itinerary for the day, "After your meeting, the new Children's Hospital has requested Iron Man to be there to help cut the ribbon for it's opening, but that's not until one. Then tonight you have a gala to attend in honor of the National Guard, it goes from seven to midnight, but you aren't required to stay for the entire affair." She pulled the small cup from the espresso machine and held it out to him, "Will that be all Mr. Stark?"

Peppers eyes drifted, watching the woman as she moved about the kitchen as though she had been living here all week, "Tony, that's not a very good breakfast. Please let me make you an omelet or something healthy." The woman's voice was slightly nasal, causing Pepper to cringe just a little when she spoke.

He smiled. "Alright, alright, you win." he said, backing down to Lucy easily. He settled down on one of his barstools with his coffee and watched Lucy move around and smiling lightly. He glanced at Pepper. "You going to the National Guard thing?"

She wasn't paying attention to what he said, she was still stuck on… her, them, it, this whole scene before her. What in the hell was going on? Pepper had been trying for years to get Tony to eat decently, years and all it took was this woman's nasal tone and he simply did, "Hm?" She blinked and looked at Tony trying to remember what he had said, "Oh, um, I wasn't exactly planning on it…" Her attention was drawn back to his latest conquest that was making him breakfast, her nose wrinkling slightly as she watched her put mushrooms into the omelet mixture inside the pan.

Tony thanked her when she handed him the plate. He touched her hip gently. "You want to come with me to this gala thing, Luce?" he asked her, tilting his head.

Pepper blinked, shook her head and quickly took a long drink of her coffee which had become cold, but it really didn't matter. Once she had finished it off, she went to the sink, rinsed it off and put it on the dish drain and turned around, "I'll be in the home office." It had dawned on her that this one she wasn't getting rid of this morning… such had occurred once or twice, but there was something different here, something that was getting very much under her skin.

Lucy watched as Tony's PA left the room and shrugged, "I was going to offer her one. I guess she doesn't do breakfast? Also, Tony you really should put a lock on your… our," she smiled and blushed slightly, "bedroom door one that your computer voice can't open. She has no right to just barge in like that. I mean you are the boss, not her you know."

"His name is Jarvis." he mumbled, his voice just a tad testy. "But you're right. I'll tell Jarvis to not unlock the bedroom door anymore." he said, promising her as he got to work finishing off his omelet. He got himself another cup of coffee and headed off to the home office to tell her he was ready to go.

"Right. Jarvis. I'll try to remember that better, hunny." Lucy smiled, "Oh and yes, to answer your question I would love to go to the gala. I will go out and look for a dress today; shopping will make the time go by faster." She took his plate when he was finished and put it in the dishwasher, "Have a good day at the office."

Pepper meanwhile was not doing much of anything in the office except for stewing, pacing and muttering about what she had just witnessed, "Unbelievable." And then she happened to catch Tony out of the corner of her eye and stopped, "Oh… okay, let me just, um, grab my laptop." Which she grabbed and moved passed him, doing her best to ignore the woman in the kitchen as she hurried for the door.

"What's up your ass, Potts?" he asked, walking along side her, sipping at his cup of coffee.

She blinked and reined in her attitude quickly, "The stocks today are terrible already." She doubt if he'd buy it but it was the best lie/excuse she had. She smiled seeing Happy waiting there as usual, "Good morning." She said to him kindly and paused to place a kiss on his cheek before sliding into the car.

Tony clenched his jaw but got into the car quietly, not even acknowledging that Hogan was there, settling back in the back of the Royce. He was gripping the mug of coffee almost tight enough to shatter it, his eyes set forward.

She gave a sidelong glance at Tony; a little amused at the fact it seemed to bug him that she gave Happy a kiss on the cheek. But then she decided it wasn't something she should really be amused about at all, this wasn't some game and that maybe she should try to be happy for him finding… someone, "Here's the rundown of the meeting today, I've marked and highlighted the important subjects at hand for the company to be discussed." She pulled some papers from her laptop case and handed them to him as they got going.

He glanced at the papers, taking them automatically but not looking at her as he did so. He nodded absently and set them on his lap, looking out his window. "Great." he said, nodding taking another swig of his coffee, trying to hide his anger.

The rest of the ride there was marked in silence; she checked emails on her blackberry and tried not to pay too much attention Tony, though she glanced at him every so often to see if he was going to do more than glance at the papers. He never did and oddly she wasn't too surprised, especially as she noted the tightness in his jaw, she knew that look well, he wasn't happy. She was almost relieved when they arrived at SI and they got out of the car and headed inside, "Would you like me to accompany you to the meeting?" Sometimes she went, sometimes she didn't this was one of those that if he wanted her there she'd go.

"I think I can take my own notes just fine, Miss Potts." he said, his voice quiet and low, testy, warning her to not press him today. And with that he headed off, the papers tucked under one arm, his coffee in one hand, shaking a few peoples hands with his other as he moved along.

"Alright then." She said after he was well out of ear shot and headed for her office, she settled into her desk chair and stared at the computer screen while it turned on. She had a feeling this was going to be a very long day, longer than she had probably planned on.

Tony went about his business, doing his meetings and holing himself in his office when he wasn't needed somewhere else, a basic day for him.

She eyed the time and noted it was getting close to lunch, she wasn't sure if she wanted to walked into his office or not, but since when had his attitudes ever stopped her? Squaring her shoulders and taking a deep breath, Pepper walked calmly into his office and paused at the front of his desk, " I came to see what you want to do about some lunch." In her hand she held an array of delivery menus.

"Lucy and I will probably get a nice, big dinner together." he said, trying to dig in the fact that he would eat with Lucy but not Pepper.

She stiffened a little at his remark but nodded, "Very well, do you need me to make any reservations for you and her?" There was a slight hint of distaste in her tone, but she did her best to keep it very mild.

"No. We'll find something I'm sure." he said dismissively, waving his hand at her.

She stared at him, eyes narrowing slowly, "Very well then, sir." She clipped the sir very, very short as she turned on her heel and headed for the door, shaking her head slowly. Once outside his door, she picked her Blackberry up and called Happy, "Hey, have plans for lunch?"

"I reserve all lunches for you." Happy responded with an almost audible smile into the phone.

She felt herself smile, though it was almost sad as she glanced at the office door behind her before moving towards her own, "Let me grab my purse and I'll be right down then." She went into her office, pausing a moment at the small mirror she had on the wall, checked her hair, then grabbed her purse and headed for the elevator. She chatted with a few people during the ride down, even though she wished she would've had the elevator to herself. She was relieved that the ride to the bottom floor was alone, "How does Chinese sound?" She asked as she approached Happy outside, making sure to give a genuine true smile.

"Perfect." he said, setting his hand on the small of her back and smiling down at her, dropping a kiss through her hair. "Where would you like to go?" he asked gently, smiling warmly down to her.

She smiled, Happy was… comfortable, nice and a perfect gentleman, but he didn't make her heart race and he didn't make her lose her train of thought, "Panda Garden is fine, I get food from there all the time. The staff there practically knows me by name." She chuckled as she settled in the front of the Rolls with him, finding it weird to sit in the front of the car.

"Sure you don't want something more upscale, Pepper?" he asked, touching her jaw lightly as he settled in the car and began to head off.

Her mind was obviously not in the car, it was very much elsewhere, it was on the changes that had occurred and how they would affect every day life until whenever. It was the movement of the car and brought her back to the present moment, "Well, if you have something in mind." She smiled, curious as to where he would go.

"No. Just odd when you want to go to the cheap places in town." He whispered, smiling to her.

"Oh." She quirked a brow slowly, "What makes you say that?" Normally she preferred the nice, comfortable and familiar often to the glitzy, upscale and flashy.

"Just used to going with you to places the boss likes." he admitted, shrugging his shoulders.

"Ah, that's him. Not saying those places aren't good, but I prefer the familiar to all that fancy stuff." She smiled, "Sometimes I feel out of place in those upscale restaurants where unless you are Tony Stark or someone just as important it can take months to get a reservation at." She was being honest, though she liked the dressing up part, she hated trying to impress the sort of people that went to those places.

"I would think you would be used to it by now." he mumbled, but he set his hand on her thigh gently, smiling to show her they could go where ever she wanted.

She let the comment pass because she felt he was trying to imply something… something that wasn't. She relaxed at his touch, "I have a thought, why don't you pick? Where does Harold want to go?" He seemed always willing to let her make the decisions, to lead and say what, where and when. She didn't think that was exactly fair.

"I have no opinion, hun. I can eat anything." he said, shrugging his shoulders gently.

"Humor me?" She smiled, laying her slender hand over his and giving it a small squeeze, "I always pick… it would be nice to see where you like to go." She was being honest, because in truth she knew very little about this man and something about that seemed wrong, especially when she was dating him.

"You know I like Italian… but I don't feel comfortable taking you to family run places." he said, giving her a look.

"I like Italian." She answered, though she did pause and looked at him, "What's wrong with family run places?" Something about the way he said family sounded off. Maybe it was better not to know very much, she bit her lower lip a moment in thought, a brow arched, "Well, there's always Olive Garden?" She wondered just what sort of man Harold Hogan was, because something told her the quiet stoic reserve was just a type of mask.

"Olive Garden is the murderer of Italian food. And uh, family run places just have ties at times." He answered, and the answer seemed to expose more than it should have.

She gave him a look that she disagreed about Olive Garden, but that was fine, "I don't think so, no." Her expression changed to curious and concerned, "Are you…involved… with, with the Mafia?" She wondered if Tony knew, of course he did, that would only make sense.

He bit his lip as she hit the nail on the head. "Yeah. I was born into it. I boxed for the Mafia. I still do some jobs, but they're small. Don't worry about it." he said, giving her thigh a small squeeze. Damn him and his desire to be honest.

Various images, thoughts and ideas entered her mind… she wondered what sort of jobs, but she decided she truly didn't want to know and wasn't about to ask, "Okay." Harold Hogan was indeed quite the enigma she decided and not at all who she thought he was to an extent, "Right, so food… now that you mentioned it, Italian does sound good, that is if you know a safe place to go."

"It ain't a matter of 'safe'. You're safe no matter where you are so long as I am there. Just depends on if it's my Family or a different Family." he said, turning down one of the side streets.

"Ah, well safe was for lack of a better term." She settled back, watching him and watching where they were going, "Is that how… you came to work for Tony? I never did hear the complete story just that you saved him from being killed or seriously injured." This had occurred a few years before she herself saved his ass, but in a different way.

"Wasn't Mafia related, but it was because of my reflexes from working in the mafia that I managed to save him." he said, nodding. "I was an on and off bouncer for a nightclub and some guy started firing off shots. I took a bullet for Tony and brought the guy down. So he gave me a job." he laughed a little.

"Ah, so he didn't… get himself into trouble, there's a first." She remembered a few moments when he had made the mistake of flirting with women who were married, only he hadn't realized it at the time, "Can I ask why? Why you took him up on his offer that is. I'm just curious." She wondered if it was similar to her own situation, and there hadn't exactly been a choice in the matter.

"It was a good salary, an honest job, and I was sick of getting knocked around in the ring. That's all." he said, shrugging his shoulders again.

"Good reasons." She nodded, "Did you enjoy boxing?" She wondered where exactly they were going, she trusted him… that was one thing she very much liked about Happy, he was reliable, trust worthy, she could count on him no matter.

"It's hard for me to hurt people who aren't an honest threat. I lost most of my boxing matches unless I could take enough hits that they would wear themselves out. So, I lost. A lot. And I don't think anyone enjoys getting knocked around." he smiled to her.

"I wouldn't think so no, I know I sure don't in any manner." And yet she was being knocked around currently and she was knocking him around in a matter of speaking as well. What tangled webs we weave. She returned his smile, her eyes returning to what was before them after glancing at her watch and noting the time that had passed and wondering what this would do to the current circumstances… her being gone this long.

He spotted her glancing at her watch. "Tony does this to us all the time, huh? Just leaves mid day and doesn't come back. What say we relax. Wind in our hair. That sounds good, huh?"

She wasn't sure she wanted too, she felt a duty to go back, to do as she normally did and that was be prompt. But a part of her wanted to let go, be a little reckless. She eyed her watch again, then took her Blackberry from her hip, turned it off and tossed it in her bag, "If you insist." She smiled, this felt like a good thing… so why did she feel so guilty about it?

He smiled broadly and pushed the gas a little more, getting them out, putting a good amount of distance between them and Stark Tower before he finally pulled into a parking lot and held the door open for her. It was a nice, small little restaurant.

It made him very happy; she noted his eagerness and smiled at it. She slipped out of the car and looked around a little, "Very quaint." It looked like the last place a man like him would go, and yet she wondered how special it was to him because it seemed like one of those places.

Most the people knew him and fawned over him and Pepper and they were seated instantly. He spoke in Italian several times to the people who spoke to him, and he looked far more relaxed than he normally was.

She watched curiously, marveling at the sudden transition that Harold seemed to make as soon as they walked into the place, as if this was like a second home. She smiled at the fuss being made, ducking her head down a little. A brow slowly rose at him speaking Italian flawlessly, "What other languages do you know?" She was curious, she herself could speak a little bit of this and that to get by and that was it.

"Just Italian." he said. "Technically, Italian is my first language. Everyone in my family spoke Italian. I learned English to go to school."

"Really… you don't look, well, Italian." She studied him a moment, "But I suppose looks can be deceiving." She smiled, and took a sip of water that had been brought to them.

"My grandfather on my father's side was an Englishman, but everyone else, my mother's side, we're all Italian. But that's where the Hogan and the blue eyes come from." he smiled to her.

"Makes sense, Irish on both sides of my family…" She chuckled lightly, "As if you couldn't tell." She was stereotypical Irish breeding, light skin, freckles and red hair the only feature she lacked was green eyes, but if one looked close enough there were green flecks amidst the striking blue.

"Everyone can tell. You have no idea how much bullshit I got from my Italian friends." he said, laughing a little.

"Oh?" She quirked a brow, a small smile on her face and then her thoughts drifted, "He's going to be mad as hell you know." She really didn't want to think of what sort of wrath would be brought down on both their heads by Tony, but it was a reality they'd have to face sooner or later, she was hoping for later.

"No he won't. I know Tony. He might be bitchy, but all you have to do is bring up all the times he disappeared during the day and never returned and he'll shut up about it." he promised as their food came.

She wasn't sure about that, she wasn't sure she wanted to argue with Tony seeing how he'd been lately, but she probably would anyways. She looked at the food, the spell of it extremely intoxicating, "This looks… it looks… I can't find the correct words." She picked up her fork and took a bite, "Mmm." She chewed and swallowed before speaking, "Wonderful." And then went for a second bite.

He smiled broadly. "Happy you like it." he said, reaching under the table and brushing his fingertips on her knee gently.

She smiled, she was trying to be in love with this man very hard, very, very hard… she cared for him, but it just wasn't the same thing, but she kept trying no matter. She relaxed at his touch, her mind still lingering and wondering how many messages she'd have to listen to once she turned her Blackberry back on.

He furrowed his brows at her. "You alright, hun?" he asked quietly, noticing a look in her eye he didn't understand.

She took a drink of her water and looked up, "Yes, just mentally going over some things I need to do. Sorry… sometimes it's hard for me to shut work off." Although she had to admit she had done a fairly good job of shutting that part of her brain off when they had been in Hawaii.

He frowned but he didn't press. He just relaxed and continued eating, lazily, not bothering to even glance at the time.

She took a silent, but deep breath and slowly let it out so that her shoulders didn't move, she needed to relax and let go of things. She needed to stop being so damned work oriented. She needed to learn to leave work at work… but then that was hard because sometimes work crossed over, in fact quite often. She took another drink of water after a few more bites of food as an excuse to close her eyes a moment and get a grip, "So I take it you come here quite often?"

"Whenever I can, yeah." he said, nodding his head to her. "This place is family. My cousin owns the place."

"You're lucky…you know, to have this." She gestured because she was as much alone in the world as Tony was, her thoughts made her recall words they had exchanged not long ago, you're all I've got. Her eyes cast downward a moment before raising, she had Happy too and because of that she smiled a little.

He smiled to her, setting his hand over hers.

"Thank you for bringing me here." She felt strange with his large hand covering her smaller one, it made her feel small and yet protected, "So what kind of desserts do they have here?" She smiled warmer, happier. Maybe this could work… maybe, but was this what she belonged to? Was she this person, was this enough at the end of the day? All these questions and more pressed at her and she had no answer for any of them.

"Good tiramisu." he said, nodding his head, trying to ignore the distracted look he kept spotting in her eyes.

"Sounds good to me." Tiramisu was one of her favorites and she was curious to taste it made by true Italians, "What shall we do after this? Because I figure if we're ditching we should do more than just eat." She smiled almost playfully.

"Just play Hooky. Hit the beach, maybe." He offered.

She just smiled in return, feeling a small thrill at playing Hooky the rest of the day with him. So she agreed, and they watched the sun set together on the beach with their feet in the surf.


	6. Chapter 6

The tables had been turned, Stane was dead and Stark lived. It wasn't supposed to happen that way, but Stane had lost focus, he had gotten to power hungry, he had let the thirst, the hunger drive him over that thin lie. A pity really, he was a good man, smart, an excellent mentor. But he had been very much flawed in the end hadn't he. Lucas Donovan was not so flawed, he wasn't going to go down like Stane did. He was smarter than that. He would hit Stark in places that made it hard for him to hit back. He wasn't going to build some super suit and try to take the guy out, that had been a stupid move on Stane's part… what had the old man been thinking? He hadn't been, simple as that. But Lucas was thinking and very clearly, he wanted everything Tony Stark had, everything from his favorite tie to his lovely Personal Assistant.

He strolled through the offices two days after the whole press conference as though he owned them; head held high, a hint of a smirk on his lips, his expensive suit pressed and shoes shined. He strolled right up to the office door of Miss Virginia Potts, preferably Pepper Potts, Stark's right hand woman, leaned against the doorframe and gave a few nonchalant knocks on the door, "Miss Potts, it's a pleasure." He shot her his best playboy grin and looked towards Tony's double office doors, "Mr. Stark around?" Pepper Potts had been startled, she looked up, blue eyes narrowed and they narrowed even more at the figure that lounged in her doorway like some great cat, "He is." She replied shortly and turned her attention back to what she was doing, she did not like Lucas Donovan, he had been Stane's protégé which made him public enemy number one in her eyes.

"Ah, Miss Potts… Pepper… I can call you that right?" He ignored her fermented glare and talked on, "How you wound me, I'd offer to take you some place nice for dinner… someplace better than he ever could, but not right now." His grin grew, "As you seem a little, well, agitated. Pity, another time perhaps." With that he stood straight, turned and sauntered for the double doors of the office he wanted and simply walked right on in, "Good morning Stark." He looked around the office, then strolled forward to the windows and admired the view.

"What do you want, Donovan?" asked Tony, hunched over some paperwork, trying to fix everything Obadiah had ruined. His ribs were paining him, and his hunch was half to ease the pain over his ribs. He didn't even look up at Lucas, though he bristled as he moved so far into his office. "Just because i_Stane/i_ was giving you so much freedom to walk right into his office doesn't mean I am so nice. Your office isn't even on this floor, why are you here?" he asked, raising his head, locking his eyes onto Donovan.

His grin, still on his lips grew into a smile, one that was anything but nice, "What do I want?" He looked around a moment, "Oh, so many things, so many." His eyes locked on Stark's form, he almost had to hold himself back from laughing… the man was actually working, it was to say the least a surprise. He clasped his hands in front of him as he watched Stark become clearly annoyed, perfect, "Of course not, this is after all…your company, I wouldn't have expected such freedom at all. But honestly, knocking first never was my thing." He strolled over to one of the plush looking chairs in front of Tony's desk and settled into it, "I simply came however to see if there is anything I can do in this… troubling time." He perched his fingers together and looked calmly at his boss, his features becoming somber and almost concerned.

"Aren't you supposed to be out in the graveyard licking Stanes tombstone like you did his shoes?" he asked, looking steadily at him, his bourbon eyes colored with his mounting annoyance.

"No. I lost my respect for the man…clearly I was as blind as you, I had no idea that he was so, well, unstable." His features grew serious, his hazel eyes focusing on Stark, "I mean really what sort of man creates a superhuman suit and tries to take over a company by killing the man who was like a son to him. It's so uncivilized." He felt very comfortable in this office, "I mean no offense of course to yourself, you did what you did for all the right reasons of course." He would make just a few minor changes when it became his of course.

Tony looked quite unamused, his teeth bared a little bit, his shoulders tensing, his whole torso tensing, making his ribs seize and he took a small intake of air in pain.

Lucas suddenly shot up, "Mr. Stark… are you okay? " He was concerned, he didn't want the man to kill over, he wanted to ruin him first. He had no idea what had happened, but he knew, but it seemed as though Stane had tried to beat the hell out of the man. He really looked at the man his hated and noted how almost sickly he appeared, "Perhaps I should alert your lovely assistant to call for some medical help?"

"I'm fine, Lucas." mumbled Tony, watching him and wondering if Lucas had only nosed up to Obadiah because he was the highest man in the New York office. So his voice was a tad less judgmental when he asked, "You need something, Lucas?"

He nodded and backed off, "Very well." He did not sit back down, instead he remained standing, noting Stark's sudden change in tone, "Merely to be of service, nothing more." He clasped his hands behind his back, "I am a business man, I know my way around the corporate world like I know the back of my hand." He straightened, his arrogance showing ever so slightly, "And I hate to be useless."

"Well, can you do me a favor and be useful in i_your/i_ office?" he said, giving him a look.

He eyed the stack of papers, "Very well, sir." He looked to Tony and back at the papers again, "Though I must say it looks like you could use the help…" His green and brown eyes looked the man before him over slowly, "Especially considering your current condition." He moved towards the door, walking backwards, "None the less, if you need me… you know where to find me." He smirked as he reached the doors and paused.

"I don't have a current condition other than "fine"." he said, giving him a look.

What a stubborn man, it made Lucas smile a little, "If you say so." He held his hands up as he moved out the door and eyed the open door of Pepper Potts' office again, a part of him wanted to start there, gain her trust… if she trusted him, Stark surely would.

She waited until she was sure that Donovan was gone before venturing into Tony's office to see how he was coming along. The room smelled badly of the other man's cologne and it took a moment before she could smell it as she drew closer to the desk and sighed in relief now picking up his cologne and smell. He had a smell all his own, a mixture of designer man and grease monkey. She loved the smell, "I see Mr. Donovan is trying to become your new best friend." Her tone was almost amused, but not quite, "Do you need any help?" He looked ruffled and tired which made her face line with concern.

"Just some dog training tools. He's learned sit and beg and shake, but he just keeps trying to scent mark everything as his." he joked in a tired fashion, leaning away from the paper work and rubbing his temples.

She smiled a little, amused, "Perhaps you need to get a leash for him." Her smile took on a hint of a smirk before her features became once again serious, "I really think you need to call it a day and go home and rest. I can call and schedule your new masseuse to meet you there."

"Oh, Potts. You're too kind." he said, standing and offering her a small smile, but he shook his head gently to decline the offer. "Some scotch and a nice bed and I should be fine."

"I try." She smiled a little, but frowned, "Must you be difficult? Although I do agree you need some sleep, I don't there's a concealer in this world that would hide the dark circles under your eyes right now." She watched him move, "I can assume correctly that you haven't been taking your pain killers either?" She folded her arms.

"I'm fine, Miss Potts." he reassured her with another smile.

She shook her slowly, "When will you learn that I always know when you're not…" Her voice had become soft, worried and tired as well, "You can't lie to me, you never could."

"Don't worry. I'll i_be/i_ fine. You really think Jarvis would let me keep coming to work if I wasn't?" he asked, raising his brows.

She quirked a brow, "And since when do you listen to Jarvis? Or anyone for that matter?" Her arms loosened a little, but her stance didn't change from that commanding sort of presence, "And I know you'll be fine, you always are."

"I listen to Jarvis." he said, frowning at her, putting away a few things from his desk and carefully pulling on his suit jacket, moving for the door.

She didn't contradict him, but she knew better, "Well then, perhaps there is hope for you to listen to me one day." She smiled a little and followed him, "Let me grab my things right fast, I need to go back to the mansion and finish a few things I left in the office the other day." She turned on her heels and moved towards her office to grab her laptop and Blackberry from her desk, the Blackberry going to rest at her hip and her laptop going into its leather case as she moved out into the hall and closed the door, "I already called Happy, he's waiting for us." She told him as they moved towards the elevators.

"You call him Happy still?" he asked as they walked, his hands in his trouser pockets. "Not Harold or something?"

She blinked and thought for a moment as they waited for the elevator, "No… I'm really not used to calling him anything else." She was puzzled by his question a little, "He doesn't seem to mind as far as I know. I tried to call him Harold a few times, it just… feels strange." She was glad when the doors slid open and they could be away from prying ears of the office gossips.

"So you call him "Happy" in the middle of sex?" he asked, glancing over at her with raised brows.

She furiously blushed and looked at him, "I really don't think that is any of your business." She didn't snap at him, but her tone made it obvious it was as she said.

"That's just weird." he said, laughing. "But then again, I don't generally know names, so I shouldn't bitch at you about what you shout in the heights of passion." he said, strolling out of the elevator and down the stairs.

She rolled her eyes and sighed, "Okay, so that is the only time calling him Harold isn't weird." She shook her head, "And that's true, I know more names of your conquests than you do." She smirked a little, as she followed just behind him, "Though some of them I'd love to forget." She shook her head, because if she didn't know better she could swear half of the girls the man had slept with were strippers.

He said nothing as she confirmed his suspicion to them sleeping together. He wouldn't say anything about it. And since he decided who was fired and who wasn't he wouldn't bother with that little policy about sleeping with co-workers. He smiled to Happy softly and got into the back of the Rolls Royce a bit stiffly.

She knew he was asking questions to see where they were in their relationship, and deep down she knew why he was asking, "So, um… how are you and whats her name… Lucy doing?" The woman annoyed her to no end. She smiled to Happy as he closed the door once she was settled.

"Oh, she's... She's fine. Y'know, she cooks and such." he said, waving his hand dismissively.

Her brows arched at his reply, but she said nothing about it… it was almost his normal way of being only that this woman wasn't number ten of the week, she had been number one for the past month give or take, "That's good." She muttered instinctively and then began to fiddle with her Blackberry as the world moved by outside the windows.

He said nothing, looking out the window, his posture completely relaxed, his hands in his lap. He tried to ignore how close she was, how close she always was, on the seat. He licked his lips and sighed softly to himself, wanting to get home and just relax with Lucy. He would probably drag her to the couch and settle down with a movie.

She wanted to flex her fingers, grip her skirt, anything to keep her hands busy, but she didn't want to fidget either, she didn't want it to be obvious that him being so close was maddening. She took a silent deep breath as the car came to a stop, but when she noted a candy apple red VW Bug sitting in the drive way, Pepper did all she could not to roll her eyes or make any sort of alluding expression. Lucy was nice, she wasn't a complete airhead… but she was the first woman that had ever made Pepper slap itchy. Out of the car, the PA took a moment to compose herself before heading inside, a professional smile on her face in case the woman was out and about.

Tony wandered into the house. Jarvis welcomed the two of them and Tony looked around for Lucy.

She was in the kitchen. The woman cooked more than Pepper had ever seen…and she baked too. Currently she was making some sort of rather good smelling cookie. Pepper wandered into the kitchen and eyed the ones on the cooling racks and quirked a brow as the woman practically ignored her and called out, "Tony hunny, I'm in here." Pepper shook her head and quickly moved for the office, fully intending to lock herself in there for the next however many hours.

Tony wandered into the kitchen to the sound of her voice and snatched a cookie from the rack, sitting on the counter and munching on it, smiling to her.

Lucy smiled at the love of her life, she felt lucky in so many ways and wasn't afraid to flaunt that she was Tony Stark's main squeeze. All her friends were jealous and her family was gloating. But she wondered how much he cared about her, if he loved her and only her. She wasn't stupid, she had seen his occasional lingering glances at Miss Potts, or the way his eyes seemed to burn whenever her and Mr. Hogan touched in any manner. She also wondered just how much Miss Potts cared for her man too, "You look tired. How was your day?" She smiled and reminded herself that she was the one he held at night as she heard the office door down the hall shut just short of a slam.

"Boring. Too many meetings. Too many hours away from you." he said sweetly, smiling to her. "How do you feel about taking the night off and just relaxing. Watching movies of your choice. How does that sound?"

She smiled at his suggestion, "Sounds wonderful. We can order take out, make popcorn. Excellent." She clapped her hands together before turning to the sink to finish cleaning up her baking mess, " Though are you sure you want to watch any movie I want to watch?" She looked a little skeptical at him, because Tony Stark did not strike her as the romantic comedy type of guy.

"It's a night for you, Luce. Whatever you want to watch, promise." he smiled to her.

She blinked, "Okay." She did her best to hide her lack of assurance in him. She felt like in some way this was a game and she was merely a pawn in it, but at least she was having a good time being a pawn if that was true. She finished cleaning up and thought a moment, she wanted to pick something to watch that he'd enjoy too, but she wasn't much for the type of movies she was sure he liked. Maybe a horror movie… that could be romantic. She wandered into the living room and began to browse the expansive collection of DVDs before settling on some really silly looking slasher flick.

He had Jarvis pop the popcorn to the perfect time, and order them their favorite take out, and he wandered in with two big bowls of popcorn and settled on the couch, his arm on the back to where he knew she would be sitting.

She settled next to him, Jarvis turning the movie on once she did so and dimmed the lights. The movie opened to some fog heavy suburban street in somewhere USA. She nibbled the popcorn, her green eyes glued to the screen as the mayhem started right out with some girl in a flimsy nightgown getting chased by a guy with big knife. She scooted closer to Tony, her eyes widening and occasionally closing at anything particularly gruesome.

He tightened his arm around her to reassure her, kissing her temple lightly to try and relax her, his popcorn balanced on his knee and his cola tucked between two cushions in the sofa so he wouldn't have to move away from her to take a drink

She smiled, she felt cared for and it was a nice feeling. She watched the movie from the corner of her eye, her attention turning to him, her manicured nails slowly running up and down his arm as she tucked her head against his shoulder and laughed a little at the stupidity of some of the characters on the screen.

He glanced down at her, greatly enjoying the feel of her nails against his skin. He shifted a little, pulling her closer, his fingers running along her hip, giving her neck a gentle nip.

She smirked a little and dragged her nails further up his arm, tilting her head to the side letting him have full access to her neck as she loved the way his facial hair felt against the sensitive skin there. She made a small sound akin to a purr as she scooted closer to him.

He nuzzled her neck with his nose before biting her neck a little harder, dragging her into his lap, his hands getting under her shirt and against her skin, his hot breath spilling over her neck.

The movie was forgotten, the screams of terror that filled the room were ignored as she shivered at his touch. As he pulled her onto his lap, Lucy shifted so she straddled him, a small moan leaving her lips; her neck was her most sensitive spot. It was as if Tony had a built in radar for such things.

He pressed his hips up against hers, slipping her shirt off one shoulder and kissing and biting her collarbone.

Pepper suddenly noticed the time, it was way later than she had thought and with a sigh she stood, stretched and gathered her things. Flicking off the computer and lights on her way out, the PA moved up the hall, quirking a brow at the sounds coming from the living room area, it sounded like one of those stupid slasher flicks. Shaking her head, Pepper slipped off her heels right fast so she wouldn't click and disturb the happy couple's movie time on her way out. However what she saw at the head of the hall made her freeze, blue eyes widened and she turned swiftly and moved as fast as she could back towards the office, almost running. Once inside, she shut the door and relearned how to breathe for a moment, "That's the last thing I wanted to see." Her words came out more hurt than embarrassed as she flicked the computer back on and settled pulling out her MP3 player and setting the volume as loud as it could go before working on something to distract herself further. But the image of that woman leaning down to kiss him, her hips moving invitingly at him… it was burned into her memory and she hated it.

Tony and Lucy were utterly unaware of Pepper walking in on them. It was quite a while later and Tony was making his rounds of the house. He did it to make Lucy feel more safe despite his promise that nothing could get in if Jarvis didn't want them to. And when he got to the door to Peppers office he furrowed his brows when he saw light coming from it. He pushed open the door quietly and poked his head in.

She had finally succumbed to sleep at some point, the computer screen was showing an array of sunset photographs across it and one of the earphones from her MP3 player had slipped off, which had shut off a while ago the battery life having been low to begin with. She had folded her arms on the desk top; her hair fell loosely about her shoulders, a few strands across her cheek. Her breathing was deep and steady; she stirred a little, mumbled something and turned her head the other direction when the door opened.

He sighed at her, brushing her hair off her cheek. He considered waking her up but he glanced at the time and shook his head to himself, turning off her computer. He scooped her up very carefully, settling her head on his broad shoulder and holding her against him securely. He carried her to a guest bedroom that had never been touched. He managed to get the covers back, and leaned down, setting her on the mattress gently.

She felt herself being lifted as though she was nothing… perhaps she was dreaming. Yes, that was it, it was a dream she had had before, strong arms, that familiar smell, a soft bed… wait. Her sleep laden eyes blinked slowly a few times before opening as she glanced around she recognized one of guest rooms in the shadowed darkness and then looked up seeing his face above her, "Tony?" Her voice was heavy from sleep and then it all came flooding back and she sat up slowly, "Oh good lord." She had fallen asleep in the office and he had found her, "I'm sorry… I lost track of time…" She glanced around, "Where are my shoes?" She was doing her best not to look at him.

"Peps." he whispered his affectionate nickname for her, touching her shoulder. "Just sleep. Your shoes are in the office. Just go ahead and go to sleep." He said, leaning in a little to free her from her suit jacket, completely innocent.

"But… I can't…" He was too close, it was dangerous. It was odd how he still smelled like him, no matter what he still smelled like Tony. She smiled a little finding comfort in the fact no matter how much he touched that woman he never smelled like her. She sighed and placed her hands on his wrists to stop him from what was an innocent act, but didn't feel that way, it felt far too intimate to her right now, "I really should go home." She looked at him and moved to stand.

"I'll leave you alone, I promise. I can have Jarvis set up a lock for the room that I can't hack into. Please, Peps?" he asked, leaning in a little more to give her that pleading look.

She almost laughed, almost. Instead she shook her head slowly and looked at him, her features becoming serious, "It's not you I don't trust…" Her hands seemed to have a mind of their own as they slipped up his arms from his wrists and when he leaned in she didn't pull back. Her eyes searched his for a moment and later she was sure she'd blame this on lack of sleep and being half asleep or at least she'd try to. Her hands stopped on his shoulders, she hesitated for a moment and then she leaned in and let her lips touch his lightly.

He closed his eyes and pushed into the kiss, one of his hands threading into her hair, his knee resting on the edge of the bed, letting out a small sound.

A part of her brain was screaming, this isn't right, stop. What about Harold? She swiftly put that part of her brain on ignore even though it seemed to get louder. One petite hand moved from his shoulders to his neck, and some sort of relaxed feeling over took her as she closed her eyes and parted her lips, silently begging for him to take the kiss further, deeper. It felt so right, she had wanted this for how long she didn't know, but it also felt very wrong bad timing on so many levels.

He pulled back with a cringe and a sigh, his work roughened fingertips skimming over her cheek as he pulled away completely, closing his eyes tightly, his hands going to her shoulders. "Pepper, we can't do this." he whispered, his voice full of regret.

She blinked and then came to her senses, "I'm sorry." She shook her head and attempted to shrug his hands from her shoulders, "I'm probably half asleep and not thinking clearly and…um, other things." She pressed a hand to her forehead for a moment and sighed heavily feeling trapped and unsure and completely lost.

He closed his eyes in pain and backed off. "Sorry. Please just sleep. I'll leave you alone." he whispered, ducking out of the room and closing the door quietly. He rested against it for a few moments, hating himself, and then finally headed off.

She stared at the door, a thousand different emotions and feelings pulled at her. She touched her lips a moment as though she was trying to memorize or recreate how his lips had felt against hers, but mostly she couldn't believe she had just done that. What had she been thinking? Soon all other emotions gave way to anger and frustration as she threw a pillow across the room at the door, "Damnit." She flopped back on the bed wanting to slip out and go home, but she knew that would only make things worse.

He went back to his bedroom and settled in. He could lie to Lucy, she never seemed to catch him, and he did so now by just flashing a charming smile and telling her he was tired and they should sleep. But he just laid there, his arms firmly around her like they always were, looking past her to the windows and thinking about just how long he had wanted to be in that moment, and how he wished he didn't have to stop it.

She tried to sleep, but she couldn't. Instead she stared at the ceiling and thought, she thought about what had just happened that she had made it happen. What was wrong with her? She sighed heavily and sat up looking at the bedside phone, she almost picked it up when she remembered that her Blackberry was there at her hip and she grabbed it instead and eyed Hap's number a moment or two before pushing send and placing the phone to her ear listening to the rings.

Harold picked up, sounding a little sleepy like she had woken him up. "Hey, sweetheart." he whispered into the phone, rolling onto his stomach and holding the phone a little closer to his ear as if he could pretend it was her.

She smiled a little, but sadly at his sleepy voice, "Hey." Her tone was quiet, her head lowered so her hair fell around her face, "Sorry to wake you… I just needed to hear your voice." She pushed her hair back, she didn't feel any better in fact this was making her feel even more guilty. Guilty enough that tears began to burn behind her eyes. After a few furious blinks she was sure she wouldn't cry and she tried to sound a little more upbeat, "I'll let you go back to sleep. Night."

"Everything alright, Love?" he asked, more awake sounding, worry dotting his voice.

She smiled and nodded as though he could see her, "Just a long night is all. I'm fine." She was anything but, part of her wanted to tell him I'm sorry for stringing you along like this, the rest of her was saying to suck it up and treat this as a whoops and move on, it wasn't like Tony was going to leave Lucy anytime soon. Slowly she laid down on the bed and curled up, "Anyways I should really let you get back to sleep. Want to meet me for breakfast?" She was going to try and suck it up for now and ignore what happened, it seemed the best thing to do…. But could she?

"Of course. You sure you're okay?" he asked, sounding concerned. He loved her dearly and it showed in his voice.

"Positive." She sighed silently at the tenor of his voice, the emotion it carried for her. It almost made her feel sick because she knew deep down she cared for him but it wasn't the same strong feeling as he had for her, "Promise. There's a Starbucks two blocks down from the offices, is that okay? I'm going to be in the office all day tomorrow so somewhere close is a good idea." She had her mind made up, unless she needed to speak with him she was going to avoid Tony as best she could.

He nodded a little against the phone. "Sounds fine, Love. I'll see you there. And I can snag you lunch from that one little Italian place you love." He offered, smiling broadly at the thought of seeing her.

"I'd like that very much." She smiled almost feeling a little better and yawning a little, "Good night." She glanced at the bedside clock and noted the time before reaching over to set the alarm that would wake her at five; she'd get a couple more hours of sleep and still make it home in time to shower, put on a fresh suit and feel like new… hopefully.


	7. Chapter 7

Harold met her for breakfast, and at lunch when he brought her her Italian in the office he went down on one knee and captured one of her hands with both of his and asked gently, "Ginger, will you marry me?"

She blinked and became utterly speechless… getting a marriage proposal with her lunch was not something she had expected at all and with what happened last night well it was the last thing on her mind right now. She stared at him completely in shock… did she love him? Yes, but that much? To her it didn't feel that serious, but that was her. The silence of the room became heavy and she was very glad the door was shut, there was enough office gossip about her, and honestly she didn't want to this get back to Tony right now. And then suddenly a sense of defeat slowly began to work over her, saying yes might free her from this confusion that clouded her mind and heart, saying yes would mean freedom… or would it, "Yes." She said it before she realized she had, she smiled and unlike most women in love wasn't overcome with emotion.

Harold smiled happily. He pulled his grandmothers wedding ring from his suit jacket pocket and held it up for approval from Pepper. If it didn't fit he would get it re-sized for her. He was overjoyed, but he knew how tightly she kept her emotions down, and he chalked up her apparent lack of reaction to that.

She stared at the ring, "It's… beautiful." She smiled, biting her lower lip as she gazed at it. It was simple and yet elegant and far too good for her, he was far too good for her. She felt the tears then, burning once again behind her eyes and she fought strongly to keep them at bay, "Let's see how it fits." She reluctantly insisted, it looked like it might be a little big, but not much.

He pushed it onto her left ring finger, and was encouraged by how well it fit and he leaned up from his kneel to kiss her, giving her hands a light squeeze.

Being kissed by any other man was never going to be the same now, not even if it was her now fiancé. The ring on her finger felt far heavier than what it truly was. She knew without a doubt that whenever she was around Tony the ring would have to vacate her finger because she had no idea how to tell him, she didn't want to tell him… but somehow she knew it would be better if in the end he did hear it from her, if she could ever bring herself to tell him.

Harold smiled as he pulled off and gave her her lunch. "I know that was sudden but I just realized when you called last night how hard it is to not sleep with you there. I want to always be there when you can't sleep so you don't have to call, you can just roll over and say my name."

She mentally face palmed… she never should have called him. This, this was in reality her doing. She smiled, "That will be nice." Meanwhile she was giving herself a thorough cussing for being so stupid all the way around last night. She never should've kissed Tony; she should've just insisted that going home was best last night. What had she done? Plus she wasn't sure she was even ready to get married? She never envisioned herself as Susie homemaker at all, and she enjoyed her job… but she'd have to quit for fear of complicating things further.

He seemed to spot the look on her face. "I don't expect you to do anything you don't want to. I'm not looking for some little house-slave to cook my meals and give me children. I love you because of your strength and your professionalism. Nothing you don't want to do or are ready to do will be done. We can move at your pace, promise."

She'd have to work better on masking what she was thinking; he was getting far to good at reading her, "Okay." She tried to make herself feel relieved and managed to project the emotion well enough she figured. She also kept repeating to herself that she should feel lucky, he loved her, he would take care of her no matter what… but he wasn't what she wanted, but it wasn't about what she wanted anymore.

It didn't take Tony long to find out what had happened, a week at best, and he made sure to not let Lucy know. And after another week of stewing while they were sitting together on the couch and he played with her hair, he asked, "Would you ever marry me?"

Lucy had noticed that Tony had not been in a particularly good mood at all for about a week. He pouted often, spent a large amount of time down in his shop where she knew it was best to leave him alone. At his question the woman sat up and looked at him, "Are you asking because you're serious or just to ask?" She wasn't stupid, though she had to admit she felt rather out of the loop within the world of Tony Stark.

"I'm being serious." he responded with his brows furrowed. He had to get back at Pepper for what she was doing to him somehow, and this seemed to be the best way.

She eyed the furrowed brows and answered quickly, she didn't want to make him mad, "I would yes." Even though I'm not sure you love me, she thought to herself, "Is this your way of… of…asking me to marry you?" The man was anything but typical and so this very well could be.

"Yeah." he laughed at himself. "Kinda stupid, isn't it? But I would love it if you married me. I'm happy with you." He whispered, running his fingers through her hair.

She smiled and shook her head slowly, "It's not stupid, kinda cute actually." Her smile grew and she clapped her hands together, "Absolutely, of course I'll marry you Tony." She ignored the words he used that made it sound like he was merely settling for her instead of someone else as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

He smiled broadly. "When? And I'll get you whatever type of wedding ring you want, Luce." He asked, his arms tightly around her waist, kissing her again.

She thought for a moment, "I don't want it to be all publicized I don't want it to be like one of these celebrity weddings. Something private…" She smiled daringly, "We could just elope, go to Vegas for a weekend and come back married." She liked that idea a lot, "As for the ring… whatever you think is best for me."

"Eloping would be fun. And we need a vacation." he said, looking very excited. "And I have my parents wedding rings." he offered, though a part in his heart did not want to offer this. He knew his mothers ring would fit Pepper perfectly without alteration, but he wasn't sure about Lucy and his mothers wedding ring so much to him, he wouldn't want to just give it away without thought.

"Really? When should we go then?" She was glad she had suggested the idea even if she had been half joking about it, but now she was anything but joking about a weekend getaway in Las Vegas to get married to Tony Stark, she was going to live out every woman's fantasy. She blinked and felt a little unsure about wearing his mother's wedding ring, "Um… are you sure?" She looked down at her hands, "Do you think it would fit your mother's ring?" She chewed her lower lip nervously.

"Mmm, it might be a little small for you. My mother had very small hands. I could make a ring for you. I made my Iron Man suit. I can make an arc reactor ring? Or with the red and gold?"

She nodded, agreeing that her hands might be a little big and then instantly answered, "Oh, a red and gold one definitely!" She thought that would be unique and she liked that idea much better than wearing something that had to do with life or death.

"Well, you pack, I have a few ideas for a ring already, I can fabricate it before you're done packing." He said, cupping her jaw tenderly and kissing her.

She blinked, "We're going now?" She was a little shocked at his insistence and rush, "Okay…" She smiled and went to pack having no idea what to take at first, but then she just grabbed clothing and threw it into her luggage and found a dress that would do for a Vegas wedding chapel.

Tony got to work. He had Jarvis connect him to Peppers phone, not caring that it was Friday and Pepper and Hogan always had dinner together. Harold stopped speaking as he knew Tony's ringtone. He chuckled. "I wondered when it was going to happen." he said, knowing that sooner or later Tony would be calling them during their dinners.

Pepper blinked, frowned and then sighed heavily, "This will only take a moment." She stood and wandered towards the ladies room while she answered, "Yes, Mr. Stark?" She had returned to professionalism when speaking with him, it made things a little easier.

"Potts." he greeted obviously distracted and the sound of his machines hard at work grinding during any silence. "I'm going on vacation for the weekend."

"Okay…" Why he was telling her this was beyond her, "Um, have fun?" She was at a loss, he could've just texted her this… he was making a big deal out of it, why? She heard the machines in the background and frowned, "Where are you going? You're not going to be playing super hero all weekend are you?" It wasn't like he hadn't done that before but usually he told her exactly that.

"No. I just wanted to let you know cause half the time you show up on Saturday and sometimes even Sunday. And I might not be back Monday... So if you could clear all that up, it would be fantastic."

"Okay…" She was still confused, she wondered if she sounded as confused as she felt, "I assume you'll at least have your cell phone so that if I do need to get a hold of you I can? Emergencies only of course." She was making mental notes already, normally Mondays were not that scheduled for him because of his disdain for the day.

"Uh, I probably won't be answering it." He said, shrugging. "Just i*WHURRR THUNK!*/i let you know. See you maybe Tuesday, Potts!"

She hung up the phone completely at a loss and returned to their table and sat down, "He's going on vacation for the weekend… and won't be back until Tuesday." She put her Blackberry back into her purse and took a rather longer than normal drink of wine before picking her fork up, "So I'm free this weekend. A rarity. "

"You alright, Love?" he asked, giving her a concerned look.

She swallowed a bite of steak and nodded, "Yes, I just thought it odd that he wouldn't say where he was going or what he was doing… that's not like him normally." She didn't like the fact she had no idea where he was, it bothered her and made her worry.

"I'm sure he'll be fine. He's too impulsive. He does things like this all the time. He's probably just going to his Dubai house or something." he shrugged.

Pepper nodded, "I suppose you're right." But something in the back of her mind that she couldn't quite put her finger on nagged in an annoying fashion that it was indeed something impulsive alright.

Back with Tony and Lucy he had finished. He made an amazingly tiny arc reactor that looked exactly like a diamond and had made a band of gold titanium alloy and the inside of the ring had been painted red, with red around the edges of the ring as well. He made himself a gold titanium alloy band with red on both side, leaving just a band in the middle of the ring gold. He went upstairs and held them out to see if she liked them, looking excited and happy though his heart was pulling a little for the woman he had just spoken to.

Lucy was sure she had everything she needed… she had double and triple checked, she was so nervous, this was a big deal. She jumped, startled when he came into show her the rings, "Very unique. I adore them." She smiled.

"You sure? I can change them if you don't like them." he offered, wanting to please her.

"Oh no, If you change them I'll be pissed." She looked to him, "Don't you need to pack too?" Her arms folded, an eyebrow rising in amusement as she wondered if he forgot that little detail.

"Oh yeah!" he laughed, kissing her cheek. "Too excited." he said, giving her hip a small squeeze. He glanced back at her with affection before ducking into the room to pack, the rings in his pocket.

She sat down on the edge of the bed as he rushed out completely bewildered by this suddenness of her man; she had never seen him like this before it was both intriguing and worrisome. She stood and grabbed her suitcase moving out into the living room to wait for him patiently.

He was packed soon and he wandered out with his bag and kissed her again. "I thought you wouldn't say yes. I'm super excited." he smiled happily.

She blinked, "What on earth made you think I wouldn't say yes?" He seemed too excited, it was almost enough to change her mind, but she didn't… she didn't want to lose a good thing like this and she really did love him, but she wondered if he loved her as much as he was trying to say he did.

"I dunno. There's a lot of reasons." he said seriously, twisting his lips to one side. "I do stupid, dangerous crap in my armor, I've had attempts on my life before, woman fawn over me a lot where ever I go, I drink, I slept around a lot before I met you." he shrugged and frowned to her.

She shrugged, "We all make poor judgments." She stepped closer to him, "But that was then, this is now. Now is all that matters, right?" She looked him in the eyes; he's always so guarded and now was no different to her anyways. She always did have a hard time reading him, "Shall we?"

He smiled softly and wrapped his arms around her and pushed his face into her neck. "Thank you. That means more than I can say." he whispered, one arm around her waist, the hand of his other arm between her shoulder blades. "I love you." he whispered cautiously, mentally cringing at himself. Generally, stringing people along and putting up a front was easy work for Tony Stark. But this seemed different and wrong to a point in his book.

She dropped her suitcase and returned his embrace, her arms wrapping around him. She closed her eyes and reminded herself that this was real, that soon she would really be Mrs. Tony Stark. She smiled a little at that thought and when he said I love you she felt that he meant it, she was sure, " I love you too." She whispered back and sighed with relief.

He smiled softly, putting love and affection in his gaze as he glanced down at her. He kissed her gently and then led her down to the workshop, carrying her bag for her and holding the door to his Audi open for her.

She slowly got into the car, she felt like this was right, she was convincing herself of it over and over. She was ready for this, they were ready for this. She would have that happy ending she'd always wanted. She sat back into the plush leather bucket seat and did up her seatbelt and fidgeted with growing excitement.

She didn't much like it when he drove fast, he found out. And instead of laugh and just drive faster he always respected her enough to slow down and obey the rules of the road. It was hard, and he started to speed here and there, but every time he saw her tense up out of the corner of his eye he would slow back down and be more careful. He didn't even do that for Pepper

A part of Lucy couldn't believe she was doing this, that she was eloping and to Las Vegas. There was danger in it and excitement and she knew absolutely that she was the luckiest woman in the world. She noted how Tony obeyed the traffic rules and didn't drive too fast, she didn't like fast… but in this one way she was making an exception, a fast wedding. She wondered how long they'd be able to keep it quiet, how soon the press would find out and her face would be plastered all over the news as Mrs. Tony Stark or the woman who married Iron Man. All these thoughts and many more clouded her mind as they drove through the night.

"So, where do you want to honeymoon?" he asked, glancing over at her, smiling gently.

She pulled herself from her own thoughts and thought over his question, "I don't know… I've never really been anywhere." She felt a little embarrassed, "Hawaii? I like a good beach." She lifted her arms and looked them over, "I should start working on my tan for the summer anyways, I'm far too pale."

"You haven't vacationed?" he asked, looking startled. "You give me a list, Luce, we'll go."

Her eyes widened, "Just like that?" She was shocked to some extent, and she thought, "I don't even know where to begin…"

"Sweetheart, I've been around the globe and I have all the money in the world. I have almost trillions of dollars. And with a few of the new things I'm coming out with I'll easily top trillionaire. I can blow money going where ever. Paris, Italy, Ireland, Monte Carlo, Jamaica, Bahamas. Anywhere."

"Um…" She chewed her lower lip a moment or two, "All those places you just named sound wonderful." She tried to think of a few more, but couldn't make up her mind exactly, "Australia?" She looked hopeful though she knew he wouldn't say no, she was pretty sure she could ask to go to Antarctica and he'd take her.

"Sure. New Zealand too? Climb Mt. Doom?" he chuckled a little.

She quirked a brow, "Mount Doom? There's really a mountain called that?" She shrugged, "Sure, why not, New Zealand sounds interesting too."

"No." he laughed softly. "Mt. Doom was in the Lord of the Rings films. They filmed it in New Zealand." he set his hand over hers.

She blushed furiously and sighed, "Sorry… I never saw the movies." She felt stupid, but his hand on hers made her feel a little better as she glanced out towards the seemingly never ending night.

"You haven't? God, woman, there are so many things I will show you." He said, giving her hand a light squeeze and smiling down at her.

She chuckled, "I look forward to all the things you're going to show me." She smiled warmly, this felt so right the two of them, and she held no doubt in her mind now, none at all as she was sure she was the only occupant of Tony Stark's heart.

He smiled warmly in return and soon enough they were in Las Vegas. "Tonight or tomorrow? When would you like the wedding?" he asked as he got them settled in the Wynn Salon Suite, not blinking at the almost $1,000 per night charge.

She was in awe of the suite, she was almost afraid to touch anything and for a moment she didn't register his question, "Um…" She turned and looked at him, thinking a moment to remember what he had asked, "Now… I don't want to wait." She smiled, she wasn't sure she could wait.

He nodded, smiling widely, and he changed into a different tux and slicked his hair back.

She grabbed a smaller bag and went into the bathroom. She changed into a silvery white dress that she had worn once to some gala event. It draped over her body softly and fell to her knees. She put on the strappy white heels that went with the dress and pulled her hair back into a low ponytail after fixing her make-up. With a sigh she decided this was as good as it was going to get and walked out, "I can't believe I'm doing this…" She smiled at him, "but I'm glad I am."

He smiled happily, taking her hands and kissing her knuckles. He led her out to the car and they figured out where the chapel was together, laughing with each other as they got turned around. Finally they got to the right place and he smiled over at her, looking nervous and excited but happy.

She was nervous… this was what she wanted, what she had always dreamed of in a sense. Granted she pictured the end result differently, but the man she was marrying was everything she had ever wanted. She smiled happily and searched for his hand, finding it she held on tightly and took a deep breath.

"We'll be alright." He promised, pushing his nose against the spot behind her ear as he kissed her neck and held her hands tightly in his own. He pulled out their rings, that looked like they should have been terribly expensive. He handed her the one for him, and kept the one for her in his hand. "You ready?"

She clutched his ring tightly, her hand shaking a little as she nodded slowly and blinked her eyes a few times because she refused to be a crying bride, "I don't think I could be more ready." She smiled reassuringly.

He smiled more and slid out of the car, tucking the ring in his breast pocket, ducking around the car to open the door for her. He didn't do it often, but he felt he should. He offered her his arm.

She took his arm and got out, the night arm a little chilly, but she had grabbed the wrap that matched the dress before they left and she tugged it up around her shoulders more as she focused to keep from shaking too much in excitement. This was real; it was a dream coming true. She smiled brightly and gripped the ring in her hand tighter.

He kept her close to try and warm her a little with his body. He walked them in and though he was nervous as they signed their names and got all set up, he was also excited, and a small voice in the back of his head kept chanting "this will show her".

She was amazed at the steadiness of her hand when she signed her name. She also noticed the looks they were getting from the few people that were there, she picked up some of the whispers, things like "Is that Tony Stark?" "It can't be." She smiled and blushed a little hearing a few pleasant whispered comments about herself. She felt like they'd have to wait forever.

It didn't take too long and before Tony's busy and buzzing mind could begin to wander they were up. Nervousness finally hit him hard as he was repeating what the priest was saying to him, his bourbon eyes a bit wide.

She held his hand tightly as she saw him become nervous. She smiled at him, and did her best to not tremble from nerves and excitement herself. She repeated the lines without stumbling and whispered to her very soon to be husband to relax as the short ceremony went into the part for the rings.

He gave her a small smile in thanks and to try and reassure her. He locked eyes with her as he slipped the ring onto her finger, smiling a little more.

Her hand shook as she in turn slipped his ring onto his finger, her smile growing and her heart beat racing as the ceremony was coming to an end… it seemed like it went by far too quickly. She had never felt this happy before, it was a state of bliss to be sure. She leaned in when the priest pronounced them Husband and Wife, her arms slipping around his neck and in her excitement the bride kissed the groom instead of the other way around.

He laughed into the kiss, his left arm going around her waist, his right hand cupping her cheek, lifting her off the ground a little.

She laughed too at her eagerness. She kissed him deeper as she felt her feet leave the floor before slowly pulling away, "I don't think life can get any better." She smiled and kissed him gently again, her eyes shining with love and a sense of joy she had never truly felt before.

He got them back to the hotel, and during the course of the night they consummated their marriage and he held her close through the night, his nose pushed against her neck.

It was unbearably early in the morning and Harold was in a similar pose with Pepper, his arms around her protectively, his lips and the tip of his nose against her shoulder when her phone suddenly went off. He grunted and buried his face into her back and held her closer.

Pepper shifted, grumbled and sighed heavily, "I thought he wasn't going to call." She growled sleepily and slowly fumbled for her Blackberry and answered it. A second later she bolted upright, blue eyes wide and expelled the "He what!?!" heard around the world before hanging up and slamming her phone down onto the nightstand as she got up and tugged the bed sheet around her lithe frame and moved for the living room and the TV, "Damn you Tony." She muttered as the local news confirmed the question the reporter had asked her over the phone, 'What do you think of your boss's elopement?' She sank down onto the couch and simply stared at the screen in almost disbelief.

Harold followed after her, pulling on a pair of jeans loosely around his hips, running his fingers through his perfectly trimmed hair. "What's wrong, Love?" he asked, before glancing over at the TV. He groaned. "He didn't..." he whispered, wrinkling his nose at the TV.

By now her forehead was resting in one hand and the other was gripping the sheet wrapped around her tightly, "I knew he was up to something." She stood up and flicked the television off and folded her arms shaking her head, "Well I hope he's happy." She almost growled and stalked back into the bedroom at the sound of her Blackberry vibrating like mad. Today was going to be a long day and it was only four am.

"Sweetheart." he went after her and wrapped one of his strong arms around her, kissing her neck and grabbing her Blackberry before she could reach it and turning it off. "No worrying about it, alright?"

She was pissed for two reasons, reason one because she couldn't believe he did this… what was he trying to prove? And two because she had to clean the mess up and frankly she wanted to throw said mess in his face and tell him exactly what he could do with it. She was not in a good mood at all, "I have to worry about it. I clean his messes up remember?" If only she didn't have to worry about it, if only. She could already feel the usual Tony Stark induced headache coming on. She shook her head again for the second time and sighed, "I'm sorry… this is just the last thing I wanted to deal with right now." Or ever she added to herself.

He scooped her up and set her in his lap, running his fingers through her hair. "Shh, Love, just ignore him and his messes." He kissed her jaw gently. "Just ignore the Blackberry."

She stared at him, Hogan was good, but not that good and she turned her blue gaze on the little black device that was essentially her life in a nutshell. She was pretty sure she'd go have crazy if she ever lost it. She bit her lower lip hard, mumbled something and sighed yet again, "Fine… for now." Inwardly she groaned just knowing that by ignoring it even for five minutes was fifty more messages to deal with.

He laughed quietly, made sure her Blackberry was completely off, slid out of his pants and pulled her back into bed. "Just for a little while. Sleep a few more hours. And we'll have breakfast. And i_then/i_ you can deal with those gossip columnists." he said, kissing her gently.


	8. Chapter 8

The world changed, well at least the world Pepper Potts knew. Tony returned with who was now Mrs. Lucy Stark and settled into the same old routines. Pepper did her best to avoid the Stark Estate like the plague and focused more intently on her wedding which mysteriously got moved up a month, something about the church making a mistake, but actually Pepper had it moved up herself. All's fair in love and war after all. The day was now here and she stood before three mirrors and looked at herself in her wedding dress. The style was similar to a certain blue dress she had worn not so long ago, only it didn't dip as low in the front.

She carefully pulled the veil down over her face and let it simply drape around her as she picked up her bouquet of red roses, double checked her hair and turned from the mirrors, doing her best to ignore the heaviness in her heart. The wedding was small, simple, only a handful of guests who stood as she traveled down the aisle, her eyes straight ahead, though she wasn't looking at Harold, but at the man standing next to him… his best man, she managed to tear her eyes from Tony by the time she got close to the front and centered her gaze where it should've been all along as the music came to an end and everyone settled back into their seats.

Tony was watching Pepper, his eyes locked right onto her. He had gotten married to spite her, but he never expected for her to be there, or for him to rub it in her face at all. He could feel his heart ripping in two in his chest as he watched her move to Harold, and he closed his eyes in pain for a few moments, before reopening them and watching the wedding continue, his hands clenched together behind his back, his jaw set.

She goes through the motions, but she feels like she's having an out of body experience as though this wasn't real and she'd wake up and laugh at her silly dream, but she knew this was no dream and forced herself to be in the moment instead of acting like she was merely watching it. When it gets to her turn to say I do, she happens to catch a glance of Tony just over Harold's shoulder and she hesitates a mere moment, before she quickly tears her eyes back to looking into the eyes she should, "I do." She speaks the words softly and manages not to look at Tony again during the rest of the ceremony.

Harold happily kissed her as he held her hands. He picked her up and spun her, smiling broadly. Tony looked away from them as he felt his heart shrink so far into his chest he could no longer feel it. He held his head up, too proud to ever admit how much it killed him.

Everyone clapped and she smiled and appeared happy as she realized she was no longer Virginia Potts, now she was Virginia Hogan. It sounded as strange as it felt, at least she knew she'd always be Pepper… she glanced quickly to Tony for a moment; at least she hoped she'd still always be Pepper. She looked down at her hand, the ring seeming to be heavier and larger that it truly was.

Tony locked eyes with her and then looked away right after. During the reception he drank for the first time in a long time, and he went to Pepper and asked, "One final dance, Pepper?" he smiled softly, charming as he ever was.

She's caught off guard, she hesitates, fumbles a moment and then finally nods, "Okay." She's removed the veil by now, a few strawberry curls framing her face having fallen from the elegant up-do. She stands slowly and holds her hand out to him, swallowing hard as memories of another time slowly crept to the front of her mind, perhaps this was a very bad idea.

He walked backwards out the dance floor, and wrapped one arm around her, his hand settling on the small of her back, his other hand taking hers, pulling her against his chest, slowly shifting back and forth.

Now she can't look at him, she knows if she does it will be bad. She tries to make it appear like she's looking at him however, but she has a feeling he'll be able to tell as they sway back and forth. She feels highly uncomfortable and wants to bolt. But instead she takes in a deep breath and lifts her chin a little and looks at him almost stubbornly as she notices they're a little too close together and she pulls back a bit and ignores his hand warm on her back, cursing herself for her love of dresses with very low backs.

He pulled back a bit to look down at her as the song slowly came to a close. He raised his hand from hers and touched her jaw gently. "Congratulations." he whispered, but there's obvious heartbreak in his eyes as he slowly pulls away from her.

She feels her heart crack and she does all she can to try to keep it from breaking completely from the look in his eyes as she stands there and watches him walk away. She opens her mouth to say something, but then closes it because she's lost for words. Suddenly she feels tired, sore and oddly alone. She turns slowly and heads back to the man who is now her husband wondering if she looks as tired as she feels. She sits down and grabs the flute of champagne before her and forces herself to drink it slowly.

"Busy day." He whispers to her, brushing back a few of her stray curls. "We can head off if you'd like." He whispered, his wedding ring glinting in the lights.

She nodded, "You're right, and a long day too." She smiles tiredly and glances around for a glimpse of him, but of course doesn't find him and she sighs, "Shall we?" She stands slowly and looks around almost sadly, a part of her wishing this had never happened.

Things went back to some semblance of normal. Tony went home to Lucy every night, and Harold was a constant reassurance, showing up here and there for their lunches, and keeping true to his promise of going at her speed. Tony had proposed to Lucy the idea of children, hoping it would solidify in his mind their relationship a little more, and that it would show everyone how happy he was with Lucy. Which he always looked. He was great with his mask. There were only two people in the world who could read him. Jarvis, and Pepper. Jarvis had never even attempted to mention it. Tony told himself so often that he was just attracted to Pepper and that he didn't love her. It was easier for him to tell himself.

When her very doting husband wasn't present, Pepper took her wedding ring off… she didn't feel right wearing it, and plus it was awkward and heavy, though only in her mind. In reality it was simple, petite and elegant. She placed it in the top drawer of the desk in the home office, sadly she had to be there today, the last place on earth she wanted to be for a long time. She stood and smoothed her skirt as she snatched up some papers for Tony to sign and headed out. The mansion was abnormally quite, thus she assumed that Lucy was out shopping or being social or whatever the woman did to pass her day. Slowly she descended the stairs into the shop, pausing at the glass door, entering it code per usual and stepped inside the sanctuary of Tony Stark, "There's a few papers for you to sign and then I need you to look over this outline for tomorrow's one o'clock meeting with the development division." She was very professional and formal with him now, but to her it was being cautious and safe.

"Alright." he said, holding out his hand for the papers, his left hand flat on his work table, his ring still bright and shining.

She eyed his ring and quickly tucked her left hand behind her back as she watched him sign the papers. She felt guilty on so many levels and for so many reasons, "Also just a reminder, the Firemen's benefit is coming up again. So you need to go over the particulars for the event and donation amounts."

He paused for a second before signing his signature on the last paper. "Alright." He said, nodding to her and holding out the papers, glancing up at her.

She looked at the papers a moment as though she was lost in thought over something, mulling something over in her mind before she finally looked up at him, "Why didn't you tell me?" She took the papers and sat them down on the table folding her arms, "Because honestly finding out your boss eloped from a complete stranger calling your cell phone at four am for your statement for their gossip magazine page is really…it's just, well low, even for you." She had kept this bottled up for a while, it was obvious.

"I didn't want to tell you because you were happy with Harold. And I didn't want to have you sitting at home and wondering if I was yet a married man or not. I wanted it to just be done." he said, locking his eyes on her.

She shook her head, "If you're so sure of my happiness then obviously you telling me that you were eloping to Las Vegas wouldn't have fazed me." Her eyes narrowed a little, "What is it with you and being honest? Do you have some rule against it?"

He glared at her. "I iam/i fucking honest. I just didn't let you in on one little fucking fact." He always had a short fuse if you knew the right buttons to press. Pepper was great at pressing those buttons when she wanted to.

Her eyes went wide and then narrowed, "And it's just one more to add to the ever growing list." Her hands balled into fists, she knew she should just turn and walk away, she never should've came down here, she could've left the papers for him to sign on the breakfast bar in the kitchen.

He stood and walked around the work desk, putting his hands angrily on the arms of her chair, bringing their faces close, his eyes hard. "I am more honest with you than I am with even my wife." he growled, his hands tight on the arms of the chair.

She felt cornered, but she didn't show it as she looked up at him, her blue eyes flashing darker, "That's comforting." She snapped, clearly growing angry and no longer annoyed, "I feel sorry for her, I really do. If only she knew." Pepper wasn't stupid and of course she knew that Tony was very aware of that fact as she stubbornly tried to stare him down.

"Oh you mean like your i_darling/i_ b**husband/b**, Harold? Is that like how you fucking mean?" he snarled, gripping the arms of the chair tighter.

He caught her off guard with that one and she sat there a moment collecting her thoughts as she gripped her hands tighter into fists, her knuckles turning white because she wanted to slap him for that, "Do you really love her?" She arched a brow accusingly and almost in a so there mannerism.

"Yes." he answered honestly. Somewhere, there was some fragment of love. He wasn't in love, but he did care. "Do you love Harold?"

So much for going for the jugular, she stared at him for a moment because she really hadn't expected that answer at all. Her expression became almost arrogant as she looked at him matter-of-factly, "I do." Her sails had had the wind blown out of them a little bit now, "Do you mind?" She eyed his arms on either side of her gripping the arms of the chair like vices.

That muscle jumped in his jaw and he asked her a question instead of answering hers. "Are you i_in/i_ love with him?"

She was feeling very much trapped again, a part of her didn't like it and the rest of her found it oddly exciting. She didn't want to answer that question at all, "I really need to get back to work." She stared at him determinedly.

"So you don't." he said, watching her steadily, bringing their faces closer to try and really look into her eyes.

She pressed back into the chair and moved her eyes from his and turning her head, "This conversation is over." Her features became very fixed in frustration and annoyance before she faced him again and moved to try to stand.

His hand shot out and took her jaw, though he didn't grab her hard. He forced her to meet his eyes. "You're not in love with your husband." he said, furrowing his brows. "Why did you fucking marry him?"

She met his eyes, having no choice exactly, but this seemed to fuel a second wind in her as she point blank asked him, "Why do you think?" Two could play this game and she wasn't about to let him win or have the last word or tell him what he wanted to hear.

"I don't fucking know. That's why I'm fucking asking." He snarled at her, gripping her jaw a little tighter.

"Fine, let's ask you the same question." She wasn't going to answer because honestly she wasn't sure, "Why did you marry Lucy?" She gave him a questioning and very curious look.

"To get back at you for getting engaged to Hap." He said honestly, letting go her chin and emotionally backing off.

That answer completely threw her and she gasped, her hand coming up to cover her mouth as she stared at him her expression changing from shocked to a mixture of various emotions. She had nothing to say to that and that urge to slap him was back and she raised her hand as if she was going to and then she dropped it, balling it into a fist and shaking her head, "What in the hell am I supposed to say to that…" She stared at him in utter disbelief, "Why would you tell me something like that, why?" She wanted to hate him like she really should and she wanted to tell him she hated him, but she couldn't.

"Because I'm fucking honest with you." He growled, glaring at her, backing off a little, resting his hips against the side of his desk. "So be honest with me. Are you in love with Harold? And if not, why are you fucking married to him?"

She rubbed her arm a moment as though something had bit her, she wasn't as shocked as she tried to make herself think and she was pretty sure Tony wasn't believing she was as shocked as she was asking, "No…" Her voice became quiet, defeated because what else was left to say? She looked at him, her anger having left her with a heavy sigh, "I married him because I figured it's what I should do."

He reached out and touched her arm gently, but said nothing.

She glanced upwards a moment to the ceiling and wondered what was wrong with her… what kind of person she was, why she had done the awful things she had recently. She looked at Tony then, "We're terrible people." She shook her head and settled on the edge of the desk, turning away from him.

"I thought I've been terrible for years, Potts." he said, glancing over at her. He never stopped calling her Potts.

She shook her head slowly, "I'm not this person." She was angry at herself now and hurt. How on earth had she let things go this far? This kind of thing was expected from Tony, but not from her. She couldn't look at him, and the word danger kept flashing in her mind now and she knew she should leave, just walk out of the room, back up the stairs and keep going until she was no longer within his reach.

"How much better than me do you think you are, Potts?" he asked, pushing away, advancing on her until he had her against one of the glass walls. He tilted his head a little, cupping her jaw and pushing their hips together, capturing her lips in a kiss.

She had no answer to that, but he made it so she didn't have to answer. Her first instinct was to push him away, but she was tired of fighting and she let her fingers slide across his neck, into his hair. Her mind screamed that this was wrong, but quickly she shut down any sort of coherent thought and let go of her reserves.

He ground his hips against hers and deepened the kiss, his hands releasing her hair and pushing into it.

She gasps into the kiss, her hands shakily moving, traveling down his arms. She shifts a little, wrapping one long leg about his hips pulling him more against her, pressing her back into the glass. She wasn't sure how long she had wanted this, and how it could feel so right, so good when it was so very wrong.

He growled her name into the kiss and one hand moved down to grip her thigh, pushing his hips harder against her.

Her heart was racing, his insistence was overwhelming. She reached down and placed her hand against his resting on her thigh and moved to drag it upwards towards her hip, pushing her skirt up further. The fabric of her skirt did not give much to stretching as it was and she was pretty sure before this was all said and done she would need a replacement, but she didn't care. Her body pressed against him, arching as she shifted her hips at him, grinding back with just as much insistence.

He cupped her ass with one hand, the other unbuttoning her shirt enough for him to get to her collarbone. He nipped her with care, making sure to leave no marks.

Her head tipped back against the glass, there was something akin to satisfaction in this. Her eyes flitted closed as she shivered from the sensation of his facial hair against her skin. Her fingers dug into his shoulders, holding on as a breathy moan left her slightly parted lips.

Tony's work roughened fingers pushed her skirt up over her hips and one hand slipped between them, beginning to tease her through her underwear.

She's trembling; a small sound hisses through her teeth as she grits them in response to his hand between her legs. She's more wound up than she thought and she isn't sure how much more she can take of his teasing. Her hands grip at his shirt and tug, the buttons making little sounds as they pop off and hit the floor breaking up the sounds of heavy labored breaths that fill the silence of the room as she runs her hands up over his chest between them and pushes the shirt off his shoulders when she reaches them and presses her nails into his skin as her hands move.

His back arches into her and he removes his hand from her to undo his jeans, freeing himself and pushing his jeans down a little. He returned his hand to her just to push her underwear to one side as he lined himself up and began to push into her, his other hand on her hip, letting out a small groan and pulling her back into a kiss.

She shivers and wraps her arms around his shoulders, a moan leaving her lips as he pushes into her. She drags her other leg up and wraps it too about his hips, the movement causing her to cry out just as he captures her lips once again. She kisses back hungrily and moves her hips at him as every nerve in her body grows closer to being overwhelmed.

He thrust his hips hard into her, holding her up by his hands and their connection, moaning against her lips. He was still angry at her for marrying Harold, for this not being theirs freely instead of some hidden, daring meeting. So he thrusts harder as if he'll teach her a lesson.

She can sense the anger in this for him, for her as well. It's angry sex and she knows it. She's careful with her nails, she doesn't want to leave a mark, but she wants him to feel her own frustration and so she digs them into his skin just enough to get the point across. This wasn't just about him, and she shifted her hips at him grinding back as hard as she can, pushing him deeper within her. She was going to take everything she could out of him in this moment that was theirs.

He bites her lip a little harder than he needed to, his fingers digging into her hips as he bucks into her, moaning against her skin at her moving against him.

It's fighting, but with instead of against the tide and she has just as much fight as he does. The rhythm of their hips meeting is erratic and unpredictable; she rolls her hips hard at him and digs her heels into the back of his thighs. She could feel that edge coming, looming closer and closer. Her legs tighten around him, her breaths coming faster as the tension builds and coils inside her.

He moves his hand between them again, pressing against her and teasing her again. He's close as well, but he's determined to make her come first.

She glares at him because she knows exactly what he's doing and she knows the limits of her body, she's so close that it hurts and that fighting it will only last so long. Her fingers move into his hair and she pulls the wild dark waves as she runs her lips across his briefly and growls at him, "Damn you." Before kissing him hard enough to bruise them both as her body lets go and she falls apart around him shaking and trembling from the release.

He moaned and bucked hard into her as she clenched around him and he lost control of himself.

She rested against him as her body began to spasm less and less, she was tired, worn down and just shy of sore. Yet she felt satisfied as she closed her eyes for a moment, resting her chin on his shoulder. She knew soon the guilt would flood over her and she'd make sure to express that this will never happen again. In fact for a moment she considered quitting because she knew that now the temptation would be far too dangerous, but she knew that he'd never let her go in any fashion now, that she was burned, marked for good by him.

He set her on her legs once he was sure she could stand and pulled back, putting himself back together and making himself presentable.

She leaned against the wall a moment, and then adjusted herself, becoming presentable and smoothing her hair. She looked at him for a moment and regret filled her for so many reasons. Regret for what they had just done, regret for marrying someone she wasn't in love with, regret for regretting. She took a deep breath and stood as straight as she could manage, "This will not happen again." It was as if she was saying it to make herself believe it. She said nothing else as she turned and moved to exit the shop deciding the next few days of work would be spent safely at the Stark Industries offices.


	9. Chapter 9

Days, weeks, months had passed. The incident went unspoken, but at night she remembered the feel of his hands, the way he felt inside her. She woke up often gasping for breath; her excuse to her husband was merely a bad dream. The rest of the night she laid there fully awake, this occurred often too often in Pepper's opinion. Now she stood before the man with a stack of papers for him to sign, wishing she hadn't worn the skirt she had on and wishing that her last pair of hose hadn't gotten a run and she was forced to go with bare legs today. The office was warm, the sun outside was beating down through the windows. Steadily she fiddled with the top two buttons of her blouse and wished for the third time in five minutes that she had worn short sleeves today.

His beautiful, never assuming, Lucy hadn't even noticed anything amiss. But Tony pretended it was Pepper under him instead of Lucy, but he was always careful with whose name he whispered. They were trying for a child, Tony telling her he wanted one, when really he just wanted an excuse to be more faithful minded. He had the sleeves of his dress shirt rolled up and his tie loosened, the top 2 buttons undone, his suit jacket over the back of the chair. Like he always did when they managed to be alone, or he knew no one was watching him, he studied her. He got to signing, leaning forward, his arc reactor just peaking out over his slightly opened shirt.

"You really need to get on maintenance about turning the air conditioners on." She lightly fanned herself with a folded piece of copy paper, "I tried all last week, its your turn." She was trying to make small talk, the silence was much worse. She eyed him, watched him as he leaned over and bit the corner of her lower lip lightly at the exposure of his chest and at how badly she wanted to run her nails down it. She watched each flick of his wrist as he signed, occasionally she leaned over and pointed out where he need to sign exactly while she still tried to figure out why she had painted her nails the color of red she had. It was unlike her, but lately there had been many things she had done unlike her. Tossing her hair back, she leaned over again, close to him and she knew exactly what she was doing despite the screams of protest from the back of her mind.

As she tossed her strawberry hair over one shoulder his eyes snapped up to her, his bourbon eyes darkening a little. "I could fix it myself, you know." he whispered.

She saw the way his eyes snapped up, her own blue gaze meeting his as they did. There was a pause that lasted several moments before she answered, "I'm sure you could…" She wondered if her voice sounded as heavy as it felt, and suddenly the room felt much warmer thanks to the tension that was tugging at the both of them, "MRD also wants to schedule a time you can come down and see what they're up to." She shifted a little and settled a hip on the corner of his desk, her legs crossing revealing her shoe choice of the day, common black pumps only they had a little strap that went around her ankle.

He continued to study her, asking in a quiet, dark voice, "Anything else, Miss Potts?"

He put the ball in her court, and before she knew it she had walked around the desk, her hand was resting on his chest, lips slightly parted as she looked at him. She leaned forward then, her heels making them even in height, her lips seconds from his ear, "Is the door locked?" Her hand slid up his chest, beneath his shirt, her index finger tracing around the reactor.

He touched a button under his desk as he sat in his chair. "It is now." he whispered, reaching up and grabbing her hips and dragging her to his lap.

A slow smile slid across her lips, she couldn't fight it anymore. She wanted him, he was like a drug and no matter how hard she tried he was in her system and it only took once. Her other hand slipped into his hair as she pressed into him, her lips crashing against his with all the depressed hunger of the last two months.

He growled a little, standing up and shifting her against the desk, pushing a few things out of the way without looking at them, pushing her onto her back and kissing her hard, his hips between her legs, biting down on her bottom lip.

She gasped as he took over what she had started. The intensity overwhelmed her and she felt herself becoming lost and she felt less and less like who she thought she was. But it didn't matter, not anymore. Pepper Potts was pretty sure she'd sell her soul for this man if she hasn't already. She knew it wasn't just sex for either of them, it was the connection, and that this was more real than anything else either of them knew. Her leg slipped up and around his hips as she worked a hand down between them and down over the restricting cloth of the front of his pants.

He pulled his hips back just a little so she could get better access and free him, while his hand slid between her legs as well, pressing against her hard, rolling his fingers.

She wondered if he would ask afterwards how she learned to undo a belt one handed, she lost her focus for a moment or two as he teased her with his fingers and she gave a shuddering moan. Her fingers fumbled here and there now as she worked his zipper down and finally her fingers gliding over him teasingly.

He growled and jerked her hips slightly over the edge almost violently, pushing down his pants just a little, lining up and pushing into her a little hard, groaning against the skin of her neck.

There was something hurried about it all, something driving. She shivered at the way he took control over her, moving her where he wanted and how. She bit her lip to keep from crying out too loudly as her back arched and her body squirmed on its own accord.

He cringed a little at her and bent his head to kiss her hard, to keep her sounds down, thrusting hard into her, his lips parted against hers.

She wrapped her body around him, her hands twisting the material of his shirt. Her hips rose and fell to the rhythm he had set as she moaned into his mouth, grateful he was there swallowing every sound she seemed to be making. It was maddening and she felt like every strand of sanity she had was being stretched.

Tony was holding her hips tightly, his rough hands on her smooth skin, his hips very strong, going painfully deep.

There was the fine line between pleasure and pain. They seemed to dance along that line, her body taking as much of him as she could. She fought with his shirt, her hands sliding underneath it, over his shoulders and down his back as her body arched and slid against his while within her that pressure began to grow.

He moved one hand between them, the other tangling into her hair, bucking harder, filling her completely and almost pulling out all the way.

She looked at him, her eyes narrowing a little as he pulled back; she rolled her hips at him tightening her legs about his hips. She moaned his name and dragged her nails lightly down his back, careful not to leave any lasting marks.

His name left her lips in a moan falling into his as she dragged her nails lightly down his back careful not to leave any lasting marks. She tightened her legs around his hips, her body shaking, the sensations building, she felt like at any moment she was going to explode.

His back arched at her nails, letting out a moan into her mouth, panting and teasing her and thrusting.

She came; it was a rush of shudders, bucks of her hips and breathy sounds into his mouth. Her body twisted beneath him writhing beneath the pressure of the waves as they rode over her. She flatted her palms against his back to keep from digging her nails into his skin.

He gasped sharply as she clenched around him and after a few final bucks he joined her as he lost control and he relaxed against her on top of the desk, panting.

Her body finally began to relax, her breathing becoming normal. She noted how her clothing was sticking to her now and sighed. Air conditioning would've been most helpful in this situation, but oh well too late now. She laid back fully on the desk closing her eyes a moment letting the silence fill the air between them.

Tony slowly moved away from her, still breathing a little hard, and began to put himself back together again.

She lay there a few more moments and then slowly sat up. It was easier for her to put herself back together, just a shift of the underwear, pulling the skirt down and adjusting her shirt. She looked at him and noted the guilty inside her felt less this time despite what the back of her mind was screaming about this not being right. She would say nothing because if she opened her mouth she knew she would lie and say those two words said before, never again.

He didn't say anything either, just signed the papers she had brought to him in the first place. And without a word exchanged, they started a system. If his tie was loose or crooked, if she had the top two buttons undone or leaned over just so much or had her hair down. It was angry most of the time, but once it stopped being some mad dash for each other they started to take their time and enjoy it just a little more and he stopped trying to pound into her so hard it would hurt. He got Lucy pregnant a few months after his and Peppers silent agreement. The affair had been going on almost 8 months. Lucy was starting to show so Tony tried to not run to Pepper quite so often.

Her tactics were the same as his. Avoid at all costs. When the news broke, she smiled and congratulated Lucy, but it was obviously forced and her own quote happy marriage began to have its problems. No matter how they tried, Pepper could not conceive and it hurt her for so many reasons. If she and Tony had ever been truly together she would never be able to give him an heir, but Lucy could, Lucy was going to. This pushed her mood buttons like no other, often resulting in her lashing out at Harold. He bore it well, understanding her frustration and assuring her adoption was fine with him. But adoption wasn't the same, it wasn't truly their child. The day found her in the mansion struggling with a large stack of files and trying not to mess them up too much as she moved to put them back into the top drawer of the cabinet, "If I drop these." She muttered, "I will scream."

Tony had almost completely stopped working in the workshop and was always moving around in the house to ensure Lucy could call for him where ever she was. He happened to spot Pepper fighting with the stack of papers and he moved into the room and helped her, pressing against her a little.

She jumped, a few of the files falling to the floor in result, "Damnit." She muttered and looked at him; he looked good, rough around the edges but good. Familiar her body reminded her suddenly, but she ignored the impulse and knelt to pick up the files, "Thank you." She said almost shortly and stood, the action graceful as she tried not to look directly at him.

He noticed everything about her, and he really zoned in on her not looking at him, so he slipped away quietly, trying to find Lucy to distract him.

She sighed heavily and leaned against the filing cabinet for a moment gathering her thoughts. Lately she had been confining herself to the offices and not here, but today she had to come here to get some files and other things. After another few moments, she wandered out of the office towards the living room, "Your wife isn't here, she left thirty minutes ago for her pregnant yoga class." It was just them, and well Jarvis, but right now Jarvis didn't count.

He glanced over at her, his brows raised. "That so, huh?" He looked a little annoyed.

She arched a brow slowly, "Yes, that's so." Her arms folded, "She's pregnant with your child Tony… you just can't expect me to lie down on the desk and spread my legs when you rub up against me anymore." She felt the anger, the jealousy bubbling inside, "She's giving you an heir… a child. You made the right choice in the end." She wasn't going to cry about this, she wasn't going to show weakness, but she knew as she blinked back the tears that he'd catch on. Tony was far too observant of her.

"I didn't expect that. I wasn't trying for that, this time." He explained quietly, pushing his hands into his pockets, trying to keep his voice and posture easy to not upset her further.

"This time." She shook her head slowly, "We never should've started this." But even as she said the words she knew she didn't mean that, it was something even if it was twisted.

"You never stopped me. Never said no." he said, studying her face.

"True… and I'm realizing now that was my mistake." She felt almost defeated because no matter what she said she knew it took two to tango and she had never held back once, "But… I don't think…" She couldn't finish the sentence, she didn't want to, even though it was more wrong now than ever before she still wanted him and this wrong was better than nothing.

"If I'm such a mistake, why do you keep coming back?" he asked, his voice still low and quiet, his eyes narrowing.

She looked at him, her gaze leveling and her mannerisms becoming very serious before she answers simply, "Because it's better than nothing at all." She almost hates admitting this out loud and a part of her feels disgusted with herself for doing so.

He nodded silently, looking away, pushing his hands deeper into his pockets.

She crossed the room, the click of her heels breaking the sudden silence, "No. You don't just get to nod." She stopped a few steps away from him, "You can't tell me that you haven't felt guilty. That you don't feel wrong about the way you feel… that you don't regret it, but wish by god you could." She stepped closer, her hands moving up to her hair and removing it from its confines, "I miss you." She said quietly as she let her hair fall around her shoulders a few strands coming to rest across her face, she had really wanted to say I love you, but she just couldn't mostly out of fear.

He watched her hair fall around her shoulders, one of the tells they had used, and he clenched his jaw tightly. "I do feel guilty, I'll admit that." He whispered, scanning her eyes, pain showing up as she tells him she misses him. He closes his eyes and turns his head away. "We need to stop this, Pepper."

It hurts; it feels like her heart is being slowly ripped out. But he's right, she hates it, but he is. She sighs, it's heavy and takes all the air out of her as she watches his eyes close. She notes the tightness of his jaw, but doesn't push it even though she wants to, even though she knows she could. She turns from him and heads back towards the office, as she walks she fixes her hair back to how it had been. She's sure she has never hurt quite this much before, but it was for the better.


	10. Chapter 10

Tony kept his distance from Pepper, using the time to strengthen the bond with his wife and soon-to-be child. And then once the child was born Tony looked very different. He always looked tired, he seemed to get more gray overnight, and he was found asleep on his desk a few times. Lucy had gone out for the evening with her friends, leaving Tony alone with a 3 month old who didn't want to shut up. He tried everything he could think of or that he had seen Lucy do, and nothing worked. He had Jarvis connect him to Pepper and once she picked up she'd be greeted by the wailing of a baby and Tony saying, "Pepper, I'll pay you triple time this entire month if you come here right now." with desperation coloring his words.

She was enjoying a book, one of her favorites when the call came. She quirked a brow, but at the tenor of his voice she dared not say no. She made it there in record time mostly out of concern and when she walked into the mansion she had to stop and really look around. There was baby stuff everywhere and no sign of the Mother, "Jarvis were is Mrs. Stark?" The AI informed her that she had taken a night out, and he further informed her as to where Mr. Stark was and the current problem, "Thank you Jarvis." Leaving her keys and purse on the coffee table, Pepper made her way down the hall and into what was the baby's room, "What haven't you tried?" She asked, holding her hands out for the very unhappy baby.

"I tried i_everything_./i" he moaned, happily thrusting the child into her arms and rubbing his hands on his pants, cringing.

She took the child and bounced a little as she held the screaming infant. She inspected the diaper which was fine and tried the discarded bottle but figured the child was not hungry when said bottle was batted away. She thought a moment while making small ssh sounds and gently stroking the baby's back, "Did you try a bath?" She felt odd holding this child, but she didn't let on to such.

"Yes." he mumbled, folding his arms over his chest. The baby easily began to settle simply being held by Pepper and Tony looked even more annoyed.

Pepper blinked and continued make soft noises and then hummed a gentle tune noting the child giving a few small yawns. She moved about the room slowly, keeping this up and ignoring the annoyed looks she was getting from Tony until she was sure the child's eyes had finally closed for good. Slowly she approached the crib and carefully, gently laid the baby down inside and held her breath, sighing quietly when no sound of protest was given.

Tony moved like a cartoon cat burglar to get out of the room, eyes wide and locked on the baby. And once both of them were safely out of the room Tony pushed his face deeply into Peppers upper chest, his arms limp at his sides.

She blinked and then guardedly stroked his hair, "How much sleep have you gotten in the past three months?" She had a rough idea of how much and she was willing to bet Jarvis could rattle it off no problem, "You need to talk to Lucy about hiring a nanny."

"She would never go for it. She's all about hands on. Baby cries we i_both/i_ get up. I'd be all for taking turns, but no..." he sighed and pushed closer to Peppers body, just wanting some peace and quiet.

Pepper frowned, that woman was insane. She hated seeing him like this, practically a shell of himself, "I'm here Tony, what do you need?" She hoped he knew she was there for him no matter what.

"Quiet and peace and sleep and just quiet..." he mumbled, sighing to himself.

She nodded, understanding perfectly, "Well standing here is not the best idea, we don't want to accidentally wake the little one up." Her voice was calm, soft as she let him seek refuge in a matter of speaking.

"God, shoot me if he wakes up again." He mumbled, moving quickly away from the door, an arm tight around Peppers waist.

She smiled a little, "If that happens I got it covered." She let him lead her to where ever he wanted to go, "Have you had anything to eat?" She looked him over, trying to hide the sadness she felt in seeing him so worn like this.

"Lucy made me a sandwich for lunch, but I haven't had dinner yet." He mumbled, settling the two of them on the couch, laying his head back. Jarvis dimmed the lights for him, but kept enough that Pepper could see where she was going

"Will you be okay if I go and make you something?" She looked at him, "I'll make it quick." Her tone was assuring as she made a mental note to get him to see his hair stylist within the week while brushing some still dark strands from his forehead.

He nodded, his eyes still closed, breathing deeply. Jarvis informed them he had sound proofed the room for the baby, but they would be able to hear any sounds he made.

She moved into the kitchen and found what she needed and made him a homemade hamburger. Granted it wasn't Burger King, but she hoped it might make him feel a little bit better as she sat it on the coffee table before him along with a glass of water and some asprin, "Here you go." She settled back on the sofa next to him.

He had obviously fallen asleep at some point, but he woke up as she walked back into the room, taking the offerings gratefully.

She watched him eat, a small smile on her face as she settled back and looked around at the changes she had yet to really notice and the things that hadn't changed. She remained silent in her observations and wondering idly what Lucy would think when she came home, if she could get Tony settled then maybe the woman would never have to know that she had been there.

He let her turn on a movie, and relaxed against her a little. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep, his head shifting from the back of the couch to her shoulder. Up close the lines in his face were more obvious, pain and stress lines, and the gray that covered his beard was more obvious, and just how covered his temples were with gray.

She relaxed and watched the movie finding comfort in being his comfort. She looked him over as he slept, her heart sinking at his current state of being… he wasn't the same Tony anymore. He had let himself go to a point and she didn't like it, she didn't think it was fair. She artfully reached for the throw to her other side and draped it over him while he slept. For the moment she wasn't going anywhere and that was fine.

The baby didn't cry again and Tony remained asleep until Lucy got home. Under the blanket his hand just barely brushed against Peppers hip.

The movie ended not long after Pepper had drifted off as well, her head resting back and turned towards Tony. She shifted a little at his touch and then stirred and woke blinking, "What time—" She paused mid-sentence seeing Lucy and glanced to Tony feeling very awkward all of the sudden. Lucy looked the situation over, it seemed innocent enough, but why was Pepper there to begin with? She looked to Tony for that answer and waited.

Tony yawned and glanced over at Lucy. "Thank god you're back. Edward has been driving me nutty." he mumbled to her, stretching his tired back.

Pepper stood quickly and looked to Lucy, "He called me for back up. You have a lovely child." She noted Lucy looked her up and down curiously, "Thanks for helping him." She nodded just short of coldly to Pepper before turning her attention to Tony, "You need to learn patience. And why didn't you call me? I would've come home." The Mrs. Stark was clearly not happy and Pepper wanted desperately to leave and made calmly for the door.

Tony noticed Pepper leaving but didn't make it known, just frowned to his wife and mumbled that he was sorry and that he didn't want to pull her away from her night out.

Lucy let it slide, but she didn't like that he called Pepper and not her. She was glad Pepper was a smart woman and left. She shook her head and went to check on her baby boy leaving her husband there on the sofa after giving him a look that we'll discuss this later.

Pepper meanwhile sat for a moment out in her car, her blue eyes focused on the clock that read one in the morning. Sighing she shifted into drive and headed home, a part of her wishing she was still on that sofa with him.

Harold had stopped waiting for her after an hour. He hadn't believed her story about Tony's son crying. He had stopped believing her stories months ago, when the lies he told himself no longer convinced him. He laid down in his bed for another sleepless night wondering why she was doing what she was and steeling himself to not become distant so she wouldn't know he knew exactly what she had been doing with their boss when she was disheveled or scatterbrained. He just smiled and told her he loved her and tried to be the same old Harold she had married not so long ago, despite how badly it broke his heart.

She knew he knew, but she wished he knew that nothing had happened for months between them, that it was all said and done or for now at least. She wasn't going to say anything or confirm his knowing because she knew it would hurt worse… or at least that's what she thought. She laid there in the bed with the man she loved but wasn't in love with and thought, not sleeping about what she was going to do. She never once thought she'd ever be in a situation like this, but here she was and now she had no idea what to do or not to do. Turning over she forced herself to close her eyes and to worry about things tomorrow.


	11. Chapter 11

She had lost track of time, but it had moved on in months, weeks and days. The current afternoon was silent; Lucy was out on a play date with Edward and some other mothers and their kids she had met in her pregnant yoga class. Tony was down in the shop working on something, she could hear his music thumping so her guess was a car. Pepper smiled a little because it almost felt like old times before Afghanistan, before Obadiah's betrayal, before Iron Man… before things had changed them both. She was working at some report for DNR as well as managing Tony's email account and sipping coffee, she could multitask like it was second nature.

There was a thump and something clanging and Jarvis's calm voice moved over to Pepper. "Mrs. Hogan, Mr. Stark requires your assistance." Jarvis was downstairs with Tony, holopanels and projectors giving him a living form, trying to settle him down and look at his cut hand. Tony was snarling at him and glaring down at the long, fairly deep cut over his palm, and the cuts he gained on his knuckles from ripping his hand out of the car.

A trimmed brow rose, but she calmly set aside her lap top and coffee mug, smoothed her suit jacket as she stood and headed downstairs. As she descended she could see Tony looking tense and unhappy. She knew his postures well, he also looked like he was in pain. Sighing she entered her code and shut the thumping music off as the glass slid open admitting her inside the sacred world of Tony Stark. She glanced briefly around the room as she crossed it noting that this was the only part of the house that hadn't changed, it was still all man and all bachelor. A small gasp left her lips at the sight of the blood as she shook her head, "You really need to be more careful." She chastised him slightly as she got the first aid kit from the kitchenette area and came back over to him, "This will sting." She took out a pre-soaked alcohol wipe and began to clean the large cut on his hand first inspecting it as she did so, "Not too deep, that's a relief." She breathed, glad she wouldn't have to make sure he didn't pull stitches for once.

"Ow, fucker!" he snarled, trying to pull away from her but Jarvis was there instantly with his thin, pale fingers holding Tonys arm in place. Steel blue eyes giving Tony a stern, almost fatherly glare, silently telling him to behave.

She gave him a look, "Hold still." She gripped his wrist a little tighter, giving a small nod to Jarvis for his help in the matter. Once she had the worst cut clean, she applied some antibiotic cream to it and moved onto the other cuts, "What did you do?" She sighed as her Blackberry suddenly went off and she grabbed it right fast and looked at it, "Did you give Donovan my Blackberry number?" She stared at him after hitting the ignore button and placing her phone back at her hip, "He keeps calling about work and personal endeavors that are never going to happen." But more about the personal side of things, but she didn't tell him that as she finished cleaning the small cuts on his knuckles and applying some cream to them as well.

His eyes darkened. "No, I didn't." he said, not even paying attention to her treating his hand anymore. Jarvis also looked very interested with a quiet protectiveness in his gaze.

She caught the gaze, "So how did he get it? I certainly did not give it to him and no one has it but you, maybe Lucy did." Though why that woman would know her cell number was beyond her. She placed a gauze pad over the worst cut and then began to wrap his hand with a bandage, "Try not to get this wet." There was an uncomfortable tension in the room with Jarvis being present and the turn of conversation.

"I don't know." he snapped, agitated now that Lucas was brought up. Jarvis, who knew everything that had happened between Tony and Pepper, answered, "Mrs. Stark has not had any contact with Mr. Donovan."

She looked to Jarvis and believed him, but she had an inkling that perhaps Lucy had answered the house phone one day and gave Donovan her cell number. She knew the woman meant no harm in the action, but it annoyed her. She possibly pulled the bandaging a little too tight as she secured it and stepped back, "There. Will that be all Mr. Stark?" She made a mental note to simply get Lucas' number blocked by her provider.

Tony was running his thumb over the bandage with a small cringe. "That'll be all, Miss Potts." he turned away and Jarvis gave Pepper a tight lipped glance, before disappearing.

She evidently did something wrong or said something wrong. She shrugged and moved to head upstairs and then stopped at the glass door, she was going to say something, but she couldn't think of what and so she turned and heavily worked her way back upstairs feeling frustrated and sad all at once. She wished things were different that things hadn't turned out like they had… she felt guilty for the relationships that had been altered, changed and desecrated. At the top step she paused again, then turned around and went back down, inside his sanctuary and began to wipe up the few drops of blood from the table and floor that would get left there and become soon forgotten if she didn't.

Tony watched her, sitting down nearby with a small glass of his now rarely touched scotch. He perked a brow. "Jarvis can do that, you know." he said, raising his brows at her.

She stopped, " I know… I just…" She stopped and stood up straight and sighed, "I just don't want to leave you alone in case you proceed to do something stupid." She was being sarcastic, but then again there was some truth to her statement; this was the man who would try to go out and save the world with two broken ribs.

"Your confidence in me is incredible." he said dryly, taking another swig of his scotch, his bourbon brown eyes glancing her way.

"Well your track record speaks volumes." She shot back simply and threw the rag she had been using into the black garbage bag that served as a dirty clothes hamper down here.

"So does yours." he growled quietly, his eyes narrowed.

She quirked a brow slowly, "Excuse me?" She turned to look at him, "My track record?" Her arms folded, her expression both curious and almost annoyed.

"You know exactly what I mean." he said, giving her a stern look. "Don't play stupid with me, Potts."

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him, "Perhaps I need my memory refreshed… or have we changed subjects from you and your desire to try to get yourself killed one day?" Her body stiffened a little.

"You know exactly what I am talking about." he said, narrowing his eyes, his good hand clenched into a fist.

"And yours is any better?" She stared at him, her eyes becoming dark, annoyed that he was bringing this up right now… and why was beyond her, to be honest.

"Think whatever you want to help yourself sleep at night." he said, shaking his head, purposefully looking away from her.

She shook her head, "What do you want from me?" She was tired of these little conversations that occurred at a random moment because he brought it up.

"Nothing. Forget it." he said, waving his hand dismissively.

"No. You started this… out of the blue basically." She moved towards him, "You do this a lot and I don't know if it's because you enjoy the fact we get mad and don't speak to each other for a week or better or if this is your way of justifying things." She shook her head and sighed, "Actually you know what, you're right, never mind… I don't want to do this. Not again. I'm not going to do this." She turned sharply and clicked towards the way out on her Jimmy Choos.

He went to follow after her, but Jarvis quickly locked the glass door once Pepper was out. Tony snarled at Jarvis, but Jarvis calmly informed him to quit while he was ahead and that Lucy would be home shortly. Tony relented and settled down at his work desk. Jarvis wouldn't unlock the door until Lucy was home to keep from anything happening


	12. Chapter 12

Tony got back to life as normal after their spat. Tony was at work, trying to look over a few things Pepper had laid out on his desk for him about company spending and the new directions the company was taking. He heard a knock and, thinking it was Pepper, distantly said, "Come in."

Lucas smiled and slowly walked in; the Stark offices were quiet now, most having gone home all except the big boss himself… shocking really. His smile was devilish, it was one of those smiles that made you wonder how much of him was bullshit and how much was truth, "Excellent. You're still here." His air and tenor made him sound like he was the boss in the room and not the man behind the large modern desk before him that he strode towards.

Tony glanced up, looking annoyed already. "What is it, Donovan?" he asked, relaxing back in his seat, one hand going to his jaw, his eyes locked on Lucas.

The man arched a brow slightly, "You're not busy? No? Perfect." He held a file in his well kept hands and placed it on Tony's desk, atop the papers he had been looking at, "A few ideas for the company. I think you'll like them." Problem was, these ideas were not in compliance with the new direction of Stark Industries, they were tech for weapons and other war fueling creations, "We keep getting calls from the Military, they want things from us, you. Big things, I thought why not?" He clasped his hands behind his back and waited, looking very pleased with himself about taking the initiative.

"Why not?" he perked a brow after glancing through the folder. "I already explained my reasons. Stark Industries i_doesn't/i_ make weapons anymore. Do you understand that? The military can find someone else to buy from, but it won't be us. Come to me when you have something not weapon based on the idea block, alright?"

Lucas kept his thin lips from forming a frown at the words that fell from the mouth of Tony Stark, "So what do we make, sir?" His question was challenging, "Forgive me, but in the time I've been here, I've only seen our production sector just sit around and twiddle their thumbs basically."

"Currently we're setting up arc reactors in hospitals and helping to take the strain from the planet by putting them in power plants and factories. We're working on car models and other electronics using arc reactor technology. What we make is none of your business. It's i_my/i_ company, not yours."

"So we're essentially a green company, the green company." Lucas didn't seem overly thrilled about that, in fact it was all he could do to keep from laughing really, "You're a fool. You're wasting your talents on frivolous worries instead of building the next great empire." By now Lucas had snatched up his ideas and was moving for the door, he paused in the middle of the room, "It's a shame Stane is no longer alive, he always knew good, worthy ideas when he saw them." With that Lucas turned intent to make his exit and sell his ideas to the highest bidder.

"Stane was a stupid, arrogant man with no heart or soul. I'm glad he is dead." he said, his voice low, his head lowered and his eyes locked on Lucas.

Lucas turned, the anger boiling beneath his surface, obvious and very dangerous. He crossed the room, his hazel eyes dark, threatening, "And you'll never be half the man he was." His voice was low, dark and edged. He meant business.

"I'm ten times the man he was." retorted Tony, his hands clenching into fists, the impulsive part of his brain pulling against the rational part of his mind that said he had a child and a wife at home and he was too old to get in petty fighting.

He couldn't hold back any more, Lucas laughed, he was amused. It was truly the funniest thing he'd heard all day, "You always did think a lot of yourself." He finally said, egging the man on. Lucas was too proud to throw first punches, plus he'd rather make it look like the other person started it, it was one of his more cowardly qualities.

"Go home, Lucas." he said, looking down at his papers to dismiss Lucas.

He stared him down, "Screw you." He turned, then paused and turned back, "Actually, I retract that, you can't even get the woman you really want to screw you." He wanted the last word, he wanted to piss the man off.

His anger flared, but he managed to calmly say, "You must be mistaken. I'm married."

"Keep telling yourself that." Lucas couldn't believe how delusional the man was, everyone knew, everyone could see how he looked at his lovely red haired assistant. Tony Stark lived in his own rose colored world, how quaint. Of all the men in the world, he figured this one was grounded in reality somehow, but apparently he was mistaken.

"Oh, Lucas. Did you enter those ideas into the system?" he asked, his voice suddenly conversational.

"As of matter of fact I did. Why?" His expression became curious, his arms folding.

"Those ideas are now property of Stark Industries. But you're no longer in it's employ. Clear your desk and get out." he said, standing and moving around the desk to see a bit more powerful.

He had thought often about breaking that perfect nose of Tony Stark's, ruining that handsome appeal the man had even if only for a little while. However he never believed he'd actually try to do it until now, and before he realized what he had done, Lucas had sent his fist straight for the other man's nose, wanting to hear and feel that satisfying crack.

His head pitched back and he let out a snarl of pain before pushing off, tackling Lucas to the ground and sending his fist into his ribs as they landed painfully, sharply, on the ground. His time as Iron Man had made his reflexes faster, far faster. Not to mention his strength.

Lucas was not expecting Stark to react so fast, or at least not as fast as he did. For a moment the air was knocked out of him and the world was a daze, but then he managed to bring his knee upward between them and send it into Tony's abdomen, and used the momentum to push the other man off him, " I have to admit, I've always want to do that." He managed to get out through gritted teeth.

He gasped in pain, old and not so old wounds quickly becoming aggravated by Lucas's attacks. He shifted, getting onto a knee and hovering over Lucas, throwing his hand out into Lucas's left eye, snarling at him.

He didn't have time to dodge; he managed to close his eye as he felt the other man's fist connect. It was a powerful punch, making his head reel as the back of his skull connected hard with the floor making him see stars, "Son of a bitch!" He shoved and pushed at Stark, his vision blurry.

Tony just kept going after him, his wedding ring causing small cuts to be formed on Lucas's face. He had a lot of pent up anger at Lucas, at Obadiah whom he associated Lucas with, and his anger and frustration over Pepper and Lucy, and having a son he never really wanted in the first place.

He gave a guttural cry and shoved with all his strength, pushing and blocking where he could. Then when he had the chance, he brought one fist upwards into Stark's chin, hoping to catch the man off balance as he moved to deliver a sucker punch to his gut.

It worked and Tony landed on not completely healed ribs and he snarled at him, trying to reach for him again but his smarting ribs kept him pacified for the moment. He clutched at his side, eyes narrowed as he tried to get a knee under him to push off again, sweat beading on his gray temples.

He took the moment to move for the door, holding his nose. He practically ran. Screw his desk, screw this sorry excuse for a company and it's foolish boss. He was glad to be out of this place, to not be restricted anymore, he had offers for other places, brighter futures and more power. He wanted to get home, he wasn't sure he could drive, but he was sure he'd manage.

Tony pushed himself to his feet, letting Lucas go. He was pissed thanks to his broken nose and he didn't clean up a single thing. He just gathered his keys and his jacket and drove home.


	13. Chapter 13

Lucas managed to drive, sticking to lower streets and less traffic areas, back home. No need to get pulled over by a cop. The cuts on his face had finally stopped bleeding for the most part, but they hurt like hell as did a few other places where he was sure bruises were blossoming. He pulled into his apartment building; it was a classy, modern high rise. He lived on the twentieth floor, and the elevator ride was long, but at least no one else was on there with him. He managed to feel his way down the hall, making a right and then a left, moving for his door and the safe security of home. His eye was throbbing, as was his head. Fishing his keys from his pockets he jammed the key into the lock and fumbled, swearing loudly when it didn't open. Maybe he had the wrong key, and so he tried three more before kicking the door angrily.

Arleen had heard someone fiddling with her door, but had waited a few moments. At the kick she jolted a little and hoped it was someone who was happy when drunk, as she figured that it was just some drunk who lived on this floor but got the wrong door. She opened the door finally and then sucked in a breath when she saw Lucas. "Oh my god. Mr. Donovan, what happened?" she asked, lightly touching his arm, her touch cautious as she tried to examine his face.

He jumped when his door… no, wait, not his door opened. He blinked, he knew this voice, but briefly, and then he made the connection, "Ms. Makem, sorry… thought I was trying to open my door." He grumbled his words, annoyed that he had disturbed his lovely neighbor, "Nothing. Just a rough day." He joked slightly, not wanting to tell her oh, I just had a slug fest with my now ex boss, no big deal.

"You poor thing. Come here, let me do what I can." She said, gently pulling him into the apartment and settling him on her cozy and comfortable leather couch. She got him a small ice pack and carefully set it on his eye while she dabbed at the cuts with peroxide. "Are you hurt anywhere else?" she asked quietly, lifting the ice pack to look at the bruising around his eye again, her other hand lightly cupping his jaw, tilting his head so she could see what she was doing.

He blinked as he felt her bring him into her apartment and onto her sofa, a leather sofa at that. He wondered if he looked as bewildered as he felt suddenly, for once in his life Lucas Donovan felt awkward, "Not sure, I feel bruised here and there, but really you don't need to do this." He could take care of himself, he had done so for the majority of his life, but this woman, this almost complete stranger was helping her… not even Stane had helped him exactly, Stane just made sure he knew what to do like a good little lackey. This was odd, strange as well as new and different.

She frowned at him. "You sure you're alright, Mr. Donovan?" she asked, pulling the ice pack off his face, sitting next to him but giving him space. "I worry. No one ever stops by your place. Don't want you trying to take care of yourself when you're hurt like this."

He tried to give her one of his charming and assuring looks, but failed due to the state of his eye. He sighed and settled back, allowing the woman to play nurse, "I'm a solitary being." He glanced at her, "And I've noticed the same about you." He commented, "You spend a lot of time alone, not sure if that is safe or wise in your line of work."

"I have a cat, somewhere in here." She promised, smiling to him. "But most of my clients understand I did my best for them and most hold nothing against me. Which is good. I just don't go into situations where people generally make friends. Work is just work and the time I'm not at work I am working on cases, which is for work." she took his right hand and carefully set the ice pack on his slightly bruised knuckles.

"All work and no play?" He chuckled a little and then winced slightly, "I used to know how that was." He muttered and hissed slightly at the ice on his knuckles, "So why do you do what you do? Why help the bad guys?" He wanted his own apartment badly, but for the moment he was content and it had been a long time since the hands of a woman had touched him voluntarily.

"That's me in a nutshell." She whispered. She finished icing his hand and seemed to notice some tenseness on his part. She stood, keeping her hold on his hand. "Let's get you home, Mr. Donovan." she said, her voice like it always was, quiet and relaxed and gentle. There was no commanding nature to it, or sharpness. She was a very quiet person in every way. She never had her TV loud enough to hear, and she always made sure to talk quietly when on the phone with people. Her reasoning for her line of work was too personal, as far as she was concerned, for the first time they had really spoke to each other, so she just carefully ignored it.

He stood slowly, offering a hint of a smile as he did so to hide the pain his almost every move caused him. He had never had anyone be nice to him like this, not even his own mother who he barely remembered, and definitely not his father whom his Mother had taken delight in reminding him every day that he looked like the son of a bitch. He looked at this woman with his good eye and said something he had only said to a very small number of people, "Thank you." It was hard for him to say it, but he managed as he moved towards her door slowly, "I'd like to repay your kindness if I may. Do you enjoy Italian?"

She flushed faintly. "I do." she said, frowning at his stiffness and quickly taking a pack of tylenol from her first aid kit. She helped him to his apartment, helping him get his key into the lock as she knew that had been his trouble with her door.

He nodded, "Excellent." He slowly moved into his apartment, turning and taking his keys from her slowly, "As soon as I'm feeling more like my old self again I'll actually mean to knock on your door this time." He wanted a mirror; he wanted to see if he looked as awful as he felt.

She handed him the pain pills. "Take these with some water, Mr. Donovan. It'll help. If you need anything don't hesitate." she said, giving him a kind smile, her bright hazel eyes locking with his. They said their goodbyes and she allowed him to rest.


	14. Chapter 14

Pepper did not want to stay for dinner, especially now that Tony was late, but Lucy had insisted… and that was an hour ago. Pepper wasn't surprised that the man was late, to her it was nothing new, but his wife was annoyed by it. The woman actually looked worried and concerned and at any little sound she was out from the kitchen and looking around before frowning delicately and going back into the kitchen fuming. Pepper did not want to see these fireworks at all, but she knew it would offend Lucy if she tried to leave now and so she stayed nervously rooted to the sofa itching to hide behind her laptop.

Tony came into the house, slamming the door with a little more vigor than normal, causing Edward to whimper and whine. Tony was limping to try and take pain off his ribs that he had fallen on, still sore from a mission. Tony paused when he spotted Pepper, his eyes very dark by now thanks to his obviously broken nose, blood staining his dress shirt and his tie, some of it still dried on his face

The slam of the door startled her, blue eyes widened even more as she beheld the state of her boss and at that moment Pepper Potts wished she was small enough to hide between the sofa cushions, especially as Lucy came out, "Where have you been? You're late---" Lucy went quiet a moment and Pepper pressed further back into the sofa trying to disappear, "What happened to you? What have you been doing Anthony?" The redhead cringed hearing her Boss's full first name being used and let her head fall into her hand as she shook it back and forth slowly.

"Don't call me Anthony." he snapped sharper than he meant to, picking up Edward and shooting Pepper a quiet look before turning his attention back to Lucy. "And I'm fine. It's nothing. Sorry I am late." he said with forced politeness, trying to soothe his son who just started crying a little more as Tony was tense and angry.

Lucy's gaze narrowed, she arched a brow as her husband looked towards his assistant before taking his son, "Give me Edward and go get cleaned up." She held out her hands, her foot tapping impatiently, "We'll discuss this later." Her tone was firm and she too shot Pepper a look, but mostly to inform Tony that there were too many ears in the room.

Tony set his jaw, but backed down easily. "Alright, Luce." he whispered, handing her Edward and disappearing to his room. He reappeared not even 10 minutes later with Jarvis fluttering around him like a concerned dog, trying to get to his injuries. Once Tony sat down on a stool Jarvis quickly set his nose. Jarvis glanced at Lucy. "Mrs. Stark, would you like me to take Master Edward to his room so you can enjoy your meal peacefully?" he asked politely.

Pepper slowly stood once Tony made his exit and lied to Lucy about something she forgot to do and she'd eat in the office. Due to the circumstances, the woman didn't object and Pepper grabbed a plate of warm food and made her way down the hall and shut the door with a sigh of relief, she felt trapped and wondered how long she'd be stuck in here now. Lucy nodded to Jarvis at his offer and then looked to her husband, "Are you going to tell me? Or do I just get to use my imagination?" She sat down at the table and began to serve herself some potatoes before passing them to Tony.

"Luce, it was just a little scuffle. I'm fine." he said, shaking his head at her as Jarvis slipped off with Edward.

Lucy shook her head vehemently, "You're not fine Tony, you've got a broken nose… you were limping." She stood, slamming her fork down, "And a scuffle? You're a grown man; grown men don't get into scuffles." Suddenly she wasn't very hungry anymore, "I'm tired. I've got a headache, good night." She exited the room before he could say anything, leaving Tony there by himself in the dining room. Pepper sighed hearing the woman's words and tone, she wondered if they'd fought before, if this happened a lot, she also wondered who Tony got into a scuffle with.

Tony sighed, holding his head in one hand. Jarvis slipped back out, Edward still in his arms, calmly telling Tony to relax somewhere and that he would take care of the dishes. Tony thanked him, took his son, and slipped outside, going out and laying in the grass, his son cuddled against his ribs.

Pepper hated silence, especially silence that was accompanied by a thick blanket of tension. She decided to make her escape now, she moved out into the living room and began to gather up her belongings, hurrying as much as she could, she didn't want to be in the middle of this, she didn't want to have to see Tony looking more wounded than just having a broken nose. Why did he have to do stupid things… she never understood that about the man and she had known him for a very long time, but still despite all the years he still on occasion failed to make sense to her.

In the silence of the house, the quiet sound of Tony's voice was just barely audible, pointing up at the stars and telling his son about them, despite knowing the child had no idea what he was looking at or what his father was saying.

Pepper could hear the faint sound of a father's voice explaining the heavens to his son, she smiled a little at the image this created in her mind even though Edward was too young to be fully interested, Pepper still found it adorable. She turned and walked towards the voice and stood watching them a moment, in her heart was a small sinking feeling… the knowledge that perhaps that could've been her son, hers and Tony's… and the fact she would never see Harold doing this. She felt that void within her grow a little more as she swallowed hard and moved to walk away as quietly as she could.

Tony didn't hear her, though he thought he felt eyes on him, but by the time he glanced over his shoulder she was gone. He looked back up at the sky and sighed to himself, not wanting to go back in to deal with Lucy. He finally relented to himself and went into the house, settling Edward down and apologizing to Lucy and explaining his night a little better in the hopes she would forgive him.

Pepper left, she cried as she drove home… she cried for so many reasons. She pulled into her drive way and quickly applied makeup before going into her house. She would sleep restlessly getting little to no rest.

Lucy was torn, she loved Tony, they had a beautiful child… but lately something was off, something wasn't right. She watched him enter the room, she listened to him and sighed, "Apology accepted." She smiled as warmly as she could and snuggled down into the large bed, "I was worried… I know you're late sometimes, but usually you call… and you didn't call…" Her voice cracked a little as she expressed her fears, the same fears shared by his personal assistant.

"Sorry, I wasn't expecting it. I was trying to look over some plans and this guy just pissed me off so I fired him and he broke my nose. That's all. I'll call next time I'm going to stay late." He said, rubbing the back of his neck. He had become fairly submissive with Lucy, he found it made things easier. He hated it.

Lucy's expression became worried, concerned, "Oh my…" She stood from the bed and moved to her husband, looking him over, "That's terrible." She touched Tony's nose gently, caringly, "I'm worried about your assistant by the way. She spends so much time here… is everything all right with her marriage?" She wandered back to the bed and crawled back beneath the covers, it was a little cooler tonight.

"They can't conceive, I think." he said, shrugging his shoulders a little, fighting with himself to not show too much worry, but to not be dismissive. But it was so hard for him.

"That's too bad. Why don't they adopt?" She was curious, she felt bad for the woman and all the long hours she put in, in fact Lucy was sure that some nights the woman didn't go home at all, "You should do something nice for her, all the work and hours she puts in for you. Sometimes she makes me feel inadequate with everything she does."

"Oh, Luce, you're not inadequate." he promised with a lie, giving her a gentle kiss. "And I try, but she always ignores my attempts to go on a vacation. And you and I both know a child of your own is completely different than anything else. Adopting wouldn't be the same."

She smiled a little, but his words didn't make her feel any more than she was, "Thank you dear." She lied and then nodded, "This is true, the poor things. I feel so bad for them." She curled onto her side and sighed heavily, "Perhaps I will try to talk her into taking a vacation… woman to woman, you know."

"That may help, yes." He said with a small nod, holding her close against his chest, his arms loving, his scruff tickling her neck as he pushed his face against her. However, like always, his mind was miles from his bed. But it wasn't hard. Tony had kept up masks for longer, and she wasn't able to read him since every moment around him had been a lie and a farce.

She smiled, her eyes closing as he held her. She felt safe in the arms of her husband; she slept soundly, peacefully and deeply. They fought often, but always seemed to make up an unspoken rule of sorts about not going to bed mad.

"I love you." he whispered against her skin, holding her a little closer, kissing her shoulder gently. He had to remind himself to say it, often. That, in and of itself, made him want to just run off some days.


	15. Chapter 15

Arleen worried about Lucas, and tried to keep an eye on him without snooping. She made a bigger than normal pot of stew for herself, going over to Lucas's apartment with a bowl of it and some fresh bread. She knocked gently, her quiet voice barely making it through the door as she asked, "Mr. Donovan?"

He had fallen asleep on his sofa for the third time today, it felt more comfortable than his bed, plus he had become addicted to reruns of the Cosby show on TV Land. He was clad in silk pajama bottoms and a white tank top, at the sound of the knock at his door and the voice; he groaned and slowly sat up scratching his head before shuffling barefoot to the door and slowly opening it, "Hm?" He looked at the woman standing there and suddenly felt scruffy, stinky and just plain messy, plus he was sure he had beer breath.

She smiled gently to Lucas, happy to see his eye looked at least a little better. "I wasn't sure if you had gotten anything to eat today. And I accidentally made too much stew." She said, though it was a lie. An obvious lie. She had purposefully made more stew than normal with the intent of giving him some. She offered him the plate.

Something smelled rather good, his eyes drifted down and widened a little at the stew that awaited him, "Well unless you count corn flakes, milk and three beers a balanced meal…" He looked at the woman's face and then chuckled almost nervously, "Didn't think so." He removed the chain lock from his door and opened it back up all the way, "Care to come in?" He was being polite, mostly because it was rare for someone to be this nice to him.

"Oh, I don't want to intrude or anything." she whispered, flushing a little, though she did want to see if she could put more ice on his eye again.

He shrugged, "Not intruding at all, just me and the television." He stepped back allowing her to see in, "Plus I'm a clean freak, so it'll make me feel like I actually cleaned my house earlier for a reason other than my own pickiness." He glanced to his coffee table and frowned, "Well it's clean except for the two beer bottles on my coffee table." He sighed and moved towards them, leaving the door open invitingly as he picked up the bottles and headed for his kitchen.

She moved into his apartment and set the plate down, gingerly settling on his couch after motheringly folding his blanket.

He wandered back in, pausing to watch her fold his blanket… it was an odd gesture to him and yet comforting. He had never really had worthwhile interest in settling down or being exclusive with one woman, the idea was weird to him, but at the moment it didn't look like a bad thing to have someone there to take care of you, "Thanks for the stew." He settled down on the sofa next to her and carefully took a small spoon full of it, cooling it before putting it into his mouth. He was silent while he chewed and then swallowed, "So you cook I take it."

"It's cheaper to cook your own food, and I do enjoy it." she said, giving him a gentle smile, her eyes crinkling at the corners and softening.

He nodded, "I never was much of a cook, my Mother did all the cooking and my Dad worked I was brought up to be the same way. Men work, women do chores. Though I can make a mean pot of macaroni and cheese, or so my college roommate said." He took a few more bites of the hearty soup and smiled, "This is really good, you have many talents."

"Yes, I always saw things the same way as well." She whispered, agreeing with him on the women do chores, men bring home the money. She flushed a little at his compliments. She studied him for a few moments before asking, "Would you fight me if I tried to put some ice on that eye again?"

"Really?" He looked a little shocked at her revelation, "And yet here you are Miss Criminal Defense Lawyer bringing home the bacon." He paused to take a sip of water from the bottle he had brought back from the kitchen with him and looked at her, "Probably not, though there's a steak I've been using in the freezer, should be good to go again by now. I used it this morning." He nodded towards his kitchen as he went back to enjoying the stew.

She cringed to herself and went to his freezer to see what she could find. She found a bag of peas, smiling at her luck, and she returned, taking his jaw carefully before gingerly setting the frozen peas on his eye. She settled down again next to him. "I have to make due while I have no one to do chores for. Though, it's always good to take the strain off the man."

He eyed the peas and shrugged, "Not a fan of the steak method?" He sat back done with the stew and rested his head against the back of the sofa, "I think it would be difficult for you to give up all you do and play the stay at home housewife." He closed his eyes, attempting to relax so she could put the frozen peas over his eye.

"Nah, not too hard." She said, on her knees on the couch, being easy with her pressure to his eye, one hand gently on his shoulder to steady herself and let him know she was there.

He opened his one eye and looked at her, "Hm. Some things are easier said than done. My Mother was miserable, she was a career woman, a teacher and when she got married she gave it all up." He was relaxed, at ease. He closed his eye again and breathed deeply, his knowledge of relaxation breathing coming into play.

"Well, this is all hypothetical anyway, as I don't have any of that in my future. Not currently, anyway" she said, shaking her head a little. "It's silly to make plans over something that may never happen. Though, I suppose the builders of the Titanic thought the same thing." she realized she was talking a little more than she should, so she fell silent.

He nodded, "Very true. But one wonders." He sat up a little, his eye opening again, "Speaking of which, you never did answer my question the other night, why do you it? Why stand up for the bad guy?" He studied her carefully, she wasn't overly beautiful, but she was nice to look at… she had understated elegance which was rarely seen in today's society.

"Everyone deserves a second chance. No matter what they've done, there's good in everyone. I fight to find that good, and show it to the jury. Most attorneys don't care much about the client, but I always make sure I'm doing my absolute best for them." she whispered, looking over at him. There, that was a good middle ground of an answer, she figured.

"Do you succeed often?" He was curious, "Seems like a dangerous profession if you ask me, I'm sure you've represented some of the worst people in this world." She was almost an enigma to him, because in his mind bad was bad… there was no good in it.

"I'd say 65/35 success percentage. But no. I've had a few sociopaths. Only a few" She pulled the peas from his eye and looked at the bruising and swelling. "But you must think me rude. What is your profession?"

He nodded, "Only a few crazies, huh?" He found that hard to believe, but he didn't pry as he regarded her question a moment before answering, " I used to work for Stark Industries, but due to this economy they had to make some cut backs, I was one of those quote lucky bastards." He lied well, very well, "So currently I'm unemployed, I've sent my resume out to a few places, but haven't heard back yet. Which doesn't hurt my feelings too much, considering my current state."

"Oh, you poor thing." She whispered, pushing his hair back from his face without thinking about it.

He laughed, amused by her concern, "I'll live, but thank you." He found her motherly like affection towards him odd, but he couldn't say he didn't enjoy it, "Shit happens, life goes on."

"You're right. You're young and intelligent, you'll bounce back." She said, her eyes sparkling and crinkling as she smiled to him.

He was not a blushing man, he nodded slowly, "Why yes I am, thank you." He was however arrogant and it was showing, "The peas aren't very cold anymore." He noted.

"Oh, yes. And it has been about 15 minutes." She said, moving back into his kitchen to replace the peas in the freezer and then going back out to him. "Well, I should let you be, Mr. Donovan." she whispered, tucking some of her long, honey brown hair behind her ear.

He nodded slowly, "Thank you again for the stew, it was very good. Don't hesitate to bring over more of your cooking." He smiled, opening his eyes as he did so, "It was nice having someone to talk to. A couple more days and I'll be able to repay your kindness."

Their first evening together was pleasant, as was the second and the third. Lucas decided he liked this woman a lot… she was unlike any woman he had ever met. He enjoyed her company, she didn't get on his nerves, and she wasn't needy or whiny. She was perfect. He had spent a considerable amount of time in her presence. He managed to find some freelance work with a software company developing new computer tech for the Air Force; he also made some other arrangements to get back at an "old friend". The plan was that Tony would have an unfortunate accident leaving his lovely wife a widow, he schmooze her over and get the company. He sat at his desk within the second bedroom of his apartment that served as his office working on some programs for his job as he took a drink of coffee.

Arleen had been quietly enjoying her time around Lucas. She was relaxing in her as always quiet apartment. She was reading and had gotten well used to the sounds of people coming and going from their apartments so she didn't blink when she heard a sound from the hallway, thinking it to be someone else's door. However, when she heard someone in her apartment she became worried. She was in a tank top and flannel PJ bottoms. She sat up a little, tucking her cat against her, setting her book down. She was crawling out of bed to get to her phone across her room when her door opened. The man in her apartment shouldered her hard into the wall her bed was against and she gasped, scrabbling and trying to free herself. Through the wall it would sound like a very sharp thud, and then her sounding panicked. Followed by a deep, baritone voice that was too low to be understood.

He actually hated his new so called job. It wasn't what he wanted to be doing, but it paid the rent and helped him take out the wonderful woman next door. He sat back a moment and stared at the wall, her bedroom was just beyond it… and it didn't take much for him to imagine her asleep in her bed, her hair cascading over her pillow, her lips possibly parted slightly… those very soft lips. He sighed heavily and forced himself to get back to work. He blinked hearing a thud against the wall and arched a brow, his eyes drifting back to the spot he was just staring at, "What in the hell?" He stood, worry creasing his brows as he stepped to the side of the desk and placed his ear against the wall. There was nothing for a moment and he moved away deciding it was her cat being stupid as he sat back down.

Her cat jumped at the man and Arleen let out a small cry as he smacked the cat away without a thought. "Trouble!" she called to her cat, trying to go for him but the man pushed her hard against the wall again. "Shut up." he snapped, then growled something at her, too low to be picked up through the wall.

He heard her yell out her cat's name and he nodded, "That damned cat." Sure enough he had been right and he shook his head, that cat was correctly named alright. The second thud made him pause a moment…it almost sounded too heavy to be that damned feline. Lucas stood and headed out of his apartment and felt a rush of anger and adrenaline fuel him as he spied Arleen's door ajar and rather crappy work done on the door handle. He pushed the door open and entered quietly hearing struggling coming from her bedroom and a male voice that was low. His eyes narrowed slowly as he slipped into the small hall and towards her bedroom, the door wide open. In an instant he was all over the man attacking her, sending a fist into his face after pulling the attacker from her.

She let out a small cry of "Lucas!" having not expected him to join the fray. She remained against the wall, eyes wide. The man snarled and sent his elbow into Lucas's ribs, thrashing against him hard.

He let out a loud grunt as the man's elbow connected. He really needed to take up taekwondo again. He shifted and brought his knee up into the man's abdomen and then proceeded to punch him hard in the face.

That took him down quick. He flopped down on her floor. Arleen was shaking like a leaf, though she relaxed a little as her cat stood, shaking his head at the blow he had received from the man.

"Call the cops Arleen!" He yelled at her as he kicked the man in the ribs and forced him onto his stomach, grabbing his arms and holding them behind his back, "Hurry damnit!" He sounded angry, but he wasn't, he just didn't know how long he could hold this guy whoever he was.

That jolted her and she snagged her from its place across the room, mumbling codes into the phone, speaking like a seasoned police officer, somehow able to calm down enough to be clear over the phone.

Lucas watched her as she calmed herself and gained more control over the situation. The man beneath him struggled, but he managed to hold onto him until the authorities got there and were able to cuff him. He stood, feeling bruises beginning to blossom here and there as one of the officers began to ask him questions. His eyes moved to Arleen, worry filling them as she still looked extremely paler than normal to him, her freckles standing out loud and clear.

One cop there pulled her into a hug and they were on a first name basis. Once they were gone she was instantly at Lucas's side, calling his move foolish and brash, looking over his ribs, frowning at the bruise she found there, taking him to her kitchen and setting an ice pack over the bruise, standing in front of him to try and keep him from moving too much. She glanced up at him, still looking scared and frazzled, but she locked their eyes. "Thank you, Lucas." she whispered, her posture relaxing a little.

He smirked a little, stiffening as the ice touched the bruise, "We really need to stop meeting like this." He was making light of what had happened trying to get her to relax more, "So I see you're friendly with some of the boys in blue." He gave her a curious look, "Is there something I should know or?" He was teasing her, " I'm going to get you a home security system, I'm rather amazed you didn't have one already."

She laughed gently. "Being a lawyer you start to know most of the police officers. And yes, your poor body can't keep taking hits like this." She said, flushing a little and looking away submissively. "I don't need home security, I've never had anyone get into my apartment." she shrugged her shoulders, her other hand on his chest to keep him in place as she held the ice to him.

He arched a brow, "You're insane woman; you just had someone break in tonight." He had his mind made up and he was stubborn, "You're getting a home security system, it's either that or a rent a cop and I feel much more better about the home security system than a doughnut obsessed wannabe."

She laughed again, quietly. "You responded well enough. You could be my home security." she whispered, trying to be suggestive but still proper and womanly.

"Actually at first I assumed your cat was being stupid." He caught her subtle suggestive mannerism and smiled, "I'm not always very reliable, if I'm asleep the place could burn down around me and I'd never know it." He was about to say something when the side of her head caught his attention and he gently pushed her hair back, "Enough ice for me." He snatched it from her hand and places it on the side of her face, "We should go get you checked out, looks like he slammed your head against the wall pretty hard."

"I'm alright." She whispered, letting him nurse her, biting down on her bottom lip. "I'm not dizzy or tired or anything. I don't think I'll have anything worse than a bump on the head."

He chuckled a little and then let concern over take his features, "All the same I'd rather make sure that's all it is. Come on." He moved towards her door, "Let me go grab my keys." He moved into his apartment right fast feeling stupid for having left his own door wide open, but a couple of uniforms were still hanging out in the hall so he didn't feel as stupid anymore as he grabbed his keys slipping on a pair of tennis shoes right quick and an old t shirt, "Let's go." He motioned for her to come on.

She pulled on a jacket, looking sheepish, and let him lead her downstairs. She didn't fight against it, of course not, but the flush didn't leave her cheeks

He lead her to his car, it was a Black Lexus with black leather interior. He held the door for her before going around and getting in, "I have classical in, hope you don't mind." He actually had no idea what she listen to and decided to make that a conversation topic, "What do you normally listen to?" He asked as he pulled out and headed towards the closest emergency room. In the back of his mind however he wanted to go and find the asshole that broke into her apartment and kill him with his bare hands, at this thought his hands tightened on the steering wheel while he drove.

"Anything, really. I enjoy classical, though." she said, smiling reassuringly to him. She noticed his white knuckled hands and she set her hand over his. "You are so tense. Are you alright?"

He blinked, her hand on his startling him, causing his hands to loosen a little, "Hm? Oh, yeah I'm fine, just thinking. Sorry." He smiled at her and forced himself to relax, the man would go to jail, he'd have one of his contacts arrange something to happen to the bastard. He took a deep breath and released it slowly feeling better already.

She gave him a slightly worried look, but said nothing. They got to the hospital and she kept close to him, patient with everyone. It was her nature to be like that. She sighed as they didn't get out of there until several hours later and as they were walking across the parking lot she was quietly apologizing to him for ruining his evening.

"Hush. I was working, you didn't ruin my evening." He stopped and turned looking at her, "Stop being so damn apologetic all the time, there's nothing to apologize for. You did nothing wrong." He placed a hand on either side of her face and kissed her softly, "It's been a long night, what do you say to some early breakfast?"

She melted a little against his chest, her hands having automatically gone to his collarbone. She sighed, glancing up at him. "Okay, Lucas." she whispered, her hazel eyes studying his face, still pressed against his chest.

He chuckled, "Well at least now I know how to shut you up." He smirked, the desire to kiss her again was strong, but he instead slipped his arm around her and led her to the car, "I hope you don't mind going to Denny's, they have the best breakfasts." He opened the door for her and closed it once she was inside like before.

She flushed and tucked her hair behind her ear, nodding to his suggestion of Denny's. "Though I think IHOP wins the best breakfast award." she contested.

He snorted, "Nah. IHOP is over rated." He nodded and he pulled out and onto the almost desert streets of Malibu, the sky held a hazy pink shade to the East end of it, the sign of dawn slowly approaching.

She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder, quiet, happy to be with him, be around him.

This was strange to him, foreign. He slipped on arm around her as he drove one handed, "But if you'd rather have IHOP…" He looked down at her, a part of him could get used to this, but the rest of him warned him of becoming soft.

"Oh, how could I dare deny you of your best breakfast Denny's?" she asked, fighting a small laugh from escaping.

He gave her a look and shook his head slowly, "How kind and thoughtful of you." He smirked a little as they drove, he was content with just driving, he didn't get to drive as much anymore what with working from home.

"So, what can I do to repay you?" she asked, looking up at him. "You were so adamant about repaying me. And now I find myself in the reversed position."

He shrugged, "Hmm. Not sure just yet, I'll get back to you on that." He had a few ideas in mind, but he wanted to keep some of them to himself for a while and take this slow for the most part.

"I'll make you a pie." she offered gently, smiling up at him, knowing he had to have something far different in mind

"A pie?" He looked at her, "Hmm, that is promising. What kind would you make me? What sort of pie man am I?" He was heading back in the direction of their apartment building, there was a Denny's just two blocks up from there.

"Hmm... Apple? No. Banana creme?" she asked, pulling away from him to nip the tip of her finger, watching him.

"Close." He mused as he drove a little further, "Keep guessing." He pulled into the parking lot of the Denny's and slid into a space and turned the car off, sitting there for a moment or two, "Shall we?"

"Close which time, though?" she pouted. "Coconut creme?" she asked once they got out of the car, snuggled down in her jacket.

He made a face, "Not a fan of coconut." He held the door open once they got to the entrance, " And you'll figure it out eventually." He smirked, pleased with himself as he told the Hostess two and that a booth was fine.

"Chocolate creme?" she offered, tilting her head to one side, following after him. She settled on her side of the booth, her cheeks still a bit flushed, and the freckles on her chest more visible than normal thanks to her low cut top and her pale skin. She smiled to him gently.

"Closer." He picked up a menu and looked it over, trying to decided over his usual or something different as the waitress brought them some coffee.

She wrinkled up her nose, pulling her bottom lip into her mouth again, her jaw in her hands. "..French Silk?" she tried, giving him a look like she didn't think it was it.

He put the menu down and nodded slowly, "That would be the one." He took a drink of coffee and picked his menu up again and browsed over it, narrowing it down to two choices.

"..Wait, really? I was grasping at straws." she said, laughing gently. "You like chocolate, I take it?" she smiled to him, exposing her teeth.

"I enjoy chocolate yes." He looked at her, "And I find it an interesting name for a pie, rather a kinky one." He smirked deviously and eyed the approaching waitress with slight annoyance, he had his mind made up, but he wanted Arleen to being blushing completely over what he had said and not the waitress seeing her blush.

Arleen did in fact blush. Her chest even darkened a little and her head bowed, a small laugh escaping her.

He smirked and then became serious and almost professional like as he told the waitress what he wanted and instructed her as to how he wanted his eggs, "Also a carafe of Orange juice please." He then looked to Arleen, waiting to see what she would order.

Arleen ordered a basic breakfast. She kept her voice quiet as she always did, but was able to be heard easily by the waitress. As they waited for their breakfasts they spoke to each other, getting to know each other better. And it was far too soon that the sky was light and they were back in their own apartments.


	16. Chapter 16

Arleen settled back at home, and didn't complain as Lucas did in fact buy her a home security system. She brought him food as often as she could, which was every other day at least. She came down with the flu about a week later and was barely up to cooking herself some soup from a can or tea, let alone making the impressive meals she had been making for him. She was on day three of being sick, and she was out on the couch, curled up in a blanket with her cat snuggled behind her knees.

Three days had passed and there was no sign of Arleen. After one day he figured she was busy with a case or something, the second day it must be big, but after the third day of not even hearing a sound from her apartment, he began to worry. He had only worried once in his life until now, well twice since her encounter with a burglar and now this made three. He stood in front of her door and raised his hand to knock again for the second time, sighing he let his knuckles rap against the wood and then stepped back, hands clasping behind his back.

She grunted as she heard the door, pulling herself from the couch. She had a plaid, flannel blanket wrapped around her several times, her eyes, cheeks and nose were a little red, her hair was a mess, and she looked more pale beside the flush of sickly rouge. She pulled the door open a little, her eyes squinty. And when she noticed Lucas she frowned. "I'm sorry. I didn't want you to get sick." she explained before he even asked. She covered her nose and her mouth with some of the blanket as if to protect him.

"You look like hell." He pushed in passed her and eyed the cat… he wasn't overly fond of it and the feeling was mutual. They each gave each other a look and Lucas looked around the apartment noting the clutter and lack of attention, "You could've called. I was worried." He began to pick up the disregarded mess and moved into the kitchen, cupboards banging as he looked around, "Don't you have any chicken noodle soup around here?" He called out as he peered into her fridge to locate perhaps some orange juice or something else he had read about being good for colds.

She followed after him. "I didn't want to trouble you, and I don't want you sick." she said, grabbing his arm as if she could pull him out of the apartment to save him from the sickness.

He gave her a stern look, "I have a good immune system." He resumed his hunt and finally found what he was looking for, "Now then, can opener?" He quirked a brow at her.

She sighed at his stubbornness and opened a drawer that had every little tasker for the kitchen. Peeler, can opener, grater, cork screw, bottle opener, dry measuring spoons, egg slicer and a few other taskers. She held up the can opener and went about getting a pot and two bowls, ready to cook the soup for the both of them.

He smirked; he always got his way one way or another. He took the can opener and proceeded to open the can and then eyed her, "I got this. Back to the couch." He made a shooing motion as he took the pan from her hand and gave her a gentle push, "Go on."

"But I should be the one cooking." she quietly protested, sniffling a little and trying to give him a "I have this" look, but it just came across as tired.

He handed her a tissue from the box on the counter and pointed with his index finger, "Couch. Now. Before I put you there myself." He proceeded then to put the soup in the pan and placed it on the stove locating something to stir it with every so often.

She pouted at him, but moved back to the couch. Trouble had gone back into Arleen's room. Arleen was sitting up to remain alert.

He peeked in on her after a few moments and sighed, "I'm not going to burn the place down. Trust me." He moved over to the stove and stirred the soup, before moving back to look into the living room, "Why don't you put a movie in or something?" He hunted for bread to make some toast to go with the soup.

She sighed and switched over to TNT to see what movie they had on tonight, waiting for him to return, relaxing against the back of the couch but still sitting up.

The soup and toast were soon ready and he brought her in a bowl and some toast, "What would you like to drink?" He sat the bowl and saucer down on the coffee table and waited for her to reply.

"You don't hav-..." she sighed. "Coke?"

He suppressed another smirk as he turned and went back into the kitchen and snatched two cokes from the fridge and returned with his soup as well and settled down on the sofa next to her, "Eat." He commanded and began to eat as well while glancing to the screen, "So what are we watching?"

"Not sure." She admitted, holding the soup happily, obviously well warmed by it and already feeling a little better. "I think it's one of the Die Hards. I saw Bruce Willis and some explosions." she said.

He nodded, "Good choice." He looked around her apartment realizing this was the first time he'd actually been in it long enough to really look around, "So do you have anything to take? Or do I need to run and get you some Nyquil?" He took a swallow of soda looking at her.

"You're not getting me NyQuil." she protested, giving him a look. "You've done too much already."

"I'll take that as a yes you need Nyquil. Lucky for you I think I may have some in my apartment. Be right back." He stood and walked to the door, leaving it ajar a little as he went into his apartment and for the front bathroom, sure enough he had some, enough for at least one dose so he'd pick up some more tomorrow, "Here you go." He sat it down on the coffee table between them as he sat down next to her again, "I have sinus issues and Nyquil is the only thing that tames them most of the time."

"It's just a flu bug. I'm fine. Stop worrying." she said, giving him a look At his returned look she sighed and took a dose of NyQuil to soothe him.

"I know." He looked at her and sat back, finished with his soup and toast, "Let me know when you're done." He looked at the screen a part of him could get used to this, the two of them on the sofa watching a movie, under different circumstances of course. The rest of him bristled at this idea and he stretched out, folding his arms.

She finished her soup, but was leaning against him, the empty bowl in her lap, her cheek resting on his deltoid.

He took the bowl from her lap and sat it on the table in front of them, his arm then slipped around her and he relaxed fully despite a part of him not wanting to do so. He didn't want to be a lonely man like Obadiah was, he wanted some happiness and perhaps it was there that he differed from his departed mentor. He looked down at the pale sickly being next to him and felt strange and wasn't completely sure he liked the feeling.

It didn't take long for her to drift to sleep, nestled against his side, warmed by the soup and the contact, breathing deeply and evenly. NyQuil always put her out fast.

He blinked, he felt awkward at the fact she had fallen asleep against him. Carefully he touched her, gently just enough to push her hair from her face and noting she felt warm and probably had a fever. He held his breath watching her, not wanting to disturb her and noting how fragile she truly looked…something in him snapped and he leaned down and kissed the top of her head gently and tightened his arm around her, his eyes returning to the television screen.

She let out a soft noise in her sleep, pushing against him a little more. It didn't take her but a few more days to recover, particularly not with his help, and she started having him come over for dinner, instead of her bringing it to him. She was quickly becoming comfortable seeing him every day

"We should go out." He wandered into her apartment after she opened the door a few days after her cold had subsided, "Do you like dancing?" He looked her over, the idea of her body pressed against his was a tempting idea in so many ways.

"Uh, okay." She said, but then she flushed at the idea of dancing. "Yes. I do."

He smiled, "Excellent. I've already made reservations." He walked up to her and kissed her lips quickly, "A delivery should arrive for you soon, be ready by eight." He turned and left without a word to get ready himself.

She looked after him, utterly confused. But she took a shower to start getting ready.

About fifteen minutes later there was a knock at her door, a delivery man stood there and when she answered asked her to sign and then handed her a large box, inside was a red dress that was made with soft flowing material in exactly her size. Meanwhile, Lucas was giving himself a few finishing touches, his mind drifting about what her reaction would be when she saw the dress he bought for her.

She was quietly confused as to how he knew her size. She made sure her honey brown hair curled right and pinned it back a bit, leaving one long curl to frame the side of her face.

A few moments later he was there at her door and knocking a single red rose in his hand. He waited patiently almost predatory like. He breathed but didn't move otherwise as he waited for her door to open.

She opened the door sheepishly. Her bright hazel eyes were downcast for a few moments before she finally glanced up at him. She was obviously a little nervous, but she smelled like vanilla and black berries. She rarely used make up, and when she did it was subtle but did wonders. No foundation, just a bit of eye liner and shadow. The dress held her figure well, the deep red bringing out every slight flush, and making her milky skin seem paler. She flushed a little when she saw the rose, taking it once it was offered

"You look… just like I knew you would." His mouth watered, she was intoxicating him. He took her hand and led her to the elevator, his fingers interlocking with hers. He then led her to his car and held the door open, helping her get into the car before getting into the driver's side and taking off, this time he had soft jazz playing just loud enough for background noise.

"How'd you know my size, Lucas?" she asked, giving him a small smile, her heart a flutter.

"My secret. And no it's nothing like that." He had manners, he was a gentleman. He let his eyes slide over her slowly for a moment before turning his attention back to the road.

She gave him an amused look, adjusting her skirt just a little, keeping herself calm and relaxed. She carefully left her rose on the arm rest of the car once they got out, not wanting it to get damaged inside.

He nodded to the Hostess, "For two under Donovan." She smiled, "Right this way." She led them towards the back to a secluded table but still within sight of the dancing floor, "Here you go. Enjoy yourselves this evening." He pulled Arleen's chair out for her to sit and once she did he scooted it towards the table for her before sitting down across from her, "Order what you like." He assured her and looked over the menu as well.

"You really don't have to do this, Lucas." she mumbled, her cheeks quite rosey, her head ducked into her menu.

"You're right." He looked at her over the small round table seriously, "But I want to. So relax, enjoy the evening." He smiled at her, it was a disarming smile.

She just sighed and smiled, relaxing and settling in. She decided to completely enjoy herself, ordering a pasta with a light alfredo sauce and seafood, along with a crisp, white wine to offset perfectly. It showed that she had more than just basic knowledge of food.

He noted her selection and for himself got a seafood alfredo that had mussels, clams, shrimp and some lobster mixed in. He enjoyed seafood, "So," He took a sip of wine, "What sort of food do you enjoy the most?" He was making a full attempt to get to know her.

"Oh... I don't know. I love so many different types." she whispered, wrinkling up her nose to try and think of what she was most happy with. "Italian, I guess. There's just so many different ways to have it."

He nodded, "Seafood, there's more ways to have it. It is used in almost every cuisine and culture." He smiled at her and looked to the dance floor, "Don't eat too much now, I don't want you getting a cramp when I twirl you on the floor." The idea of their bodies being so intimately close was very appeasing to him.

She laughed quietly. "But that's an ingredient. Not a sort of food." she stuck her tongue out at him. She flushed a little, the idea of being twirled by him making her feel warm all over.

He smirked at her, "Really? Then explain red lobster, seafood buffets and Long John Silver's." He noted her blush and let his dance over her a moment, "I like it when you blush, I like it very much it makes me wonder if you turn that particular shade all over."

"Lucas." she whispered, trying to sound stern and scolding, but her flush ruined any effect she was trying for. She cleared her throat gently. "Seafood is considered unreachable by the common man. Most people don't know how to properly clean or cook a crab or lobster, and they're only easy to get at particular points in the year, and the people who catch the bulk amount of what we eat put their lives in danger to do so." she said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Oh I know." He looked at her steadily, "But these men don't catch salmon or lake trout. Have you ever had either fixed on a barbecue after helping catch it? You'll never look at fish from a expensive restaurant the same way again. I have a cabin up by Lake Tahoe, I should take you there. You'd love it I'm sure."

She smiled a little. "Okay." she agreed quietly. Her cheeks still held that rose color, but most of it had ebbed off. She was quietly nervous and excited at the idea of dancing with him and she studied him from beyond the curl framing her face.

He nodded, "Very well." He looked to the dance floor, and stood slowly extending his hand to her, "Might I have this dance?" He was using that disarming smile again as he waited patiently.

She slipped her small, slightly cold, hand into his, standing slowly. "Of course." she whispered, her lips quirking to one side in a smile, her eyes lowering submissively right after eye contact.

He smiled and closed his hand around hers and led her onto the floor. He pulled her close up against him as the music began, his smile became almost predatory as he notes were the beginning of a tango, "Do you know that the tango was once banned?" He moved her to the right suddenly and sharply and then pulled her back against him even tighter before moving them backwards, "Do you know why?" He leaned in and whispered in her ear making his question rhetorical, "Because it was deemed too close to the act of making love." He spun her out and away from him before pulling her back in and letting his hands travel slowly down her back before taking her right hand in his and leading them across the floor.

She lost her breath, gripping at his suit jacket. She was keeping up, somehow, her body going into the basic motions of the dance that she had learned at some point years ago, but her mind was obviously hazed. She pushed against his chest, her eyes locked with his, the almost teal green standing out from the caramel.

He was enjoying himself; he was slowly seducing her, slowly getting her right where he wanted. He moved them through the dance expertly. He noted a few people watching them, admiring. It stroked his ego immensely. The music was reaching its climax and thus he stepped it up a little, marveling at how well she kept up, he pulled her in again close his hand closing on her thigh and dragging it up to hook on his hips, "I believe you've done this dance before." His voice was thick husky and before she had a chance to answer or react to his words he dipped her very low as the music began to close.

She let out a very small squeak sound as he dipped her, her leg tightening around his hips, the hand that had been on his arm moving up quickly to go around the back of his neck, her cheeks flushing darkly, her eyes heated. She was breathing a bit heavily, her chest moving up and down. Her skin was amazingly soft against his hand, her hips pushed flush against his, her lips parted just a little.

He liked the small squeak she made, it reminded him of a mouse surprised by the fact the cat had waited all this time at the hole for him to come out. Or in this case, her. He slowly brought her back upright and let her leg slide down his in the same manner. Her looked her over knowing he could make her skin color far deeper when the time was right. But not yet, he wanted to play her more, move her and drive her insane with need and want. He wanted her to lust for him, dream of him touching her carefully he pushed a tendril of her hair back from her face, his fingers brushing her cheek just barely, "You dance well." He mused and pulled her against him again lightly as the band began to play a soft jazz like number meant for swaying back and forth lazily.

She smiled gently, the flush far from gone in her cheeks. "Thank you. You as well." she admitted, relaxing against his chest as they swayed.

He nodded as she commented back while they moved slower now, more relaxed on the floor, "So tell me about yourself a little more, what is your family like? Did you enjoy high school…who or what was your first love?" He looked at her, giving a small wink, "Tell me something obscure and fascinating."

"My family is average American family. Dispatcher mother, electric engineer father who is a Vietnam vet. Two brothers, one older, one younger. My older brother is a bar brawler, my younger brother was in jail for several years because he had a defense attorney who didn't care. Not really. I wasn't in any of the cliques, though I did have a lot of football friends thanks to my older brother. My first love was a boy named Vince who lived on my block and went to middle school with me. And... hmm, something obscure... Oh, I have 2 tattoos." She thought for a few moments before finally saying, "My younger brother is why I became a criminal defense attorney."

He nodded, "Sounds a lot like my family, but I was an only child." His eyes moved along her body at the mention of the tattoos, "Interesting. Why did you get them? For the hell of it or was there a meaning and purpose for placing permanent ink upon your body?"

"One of them was a little silly. Though I love the tattoo and would never get rid of it. And the other is my Scottish Clan crest." she smiled a little. "Maybe someday you'll get to see them."

"I'm quite sure of the fact." He nodded, very sure of himself. He would take great pleasure in tracing each line upon her skin. Something felt very right about this, it bothered part of him but the rest of him loved every second. He pulled her a little closer and buried his nose in her hair inhaling her scent, memorizing it and becoming lost in it.

She felt a small flare run down her spine as he pulled her closer. She rested her cheek against his collarbone, relaxing against his chest. She smiled softly to herself, marveling that such a wonderful thing had come from him mistaking her door for his. The tips of her fingers were playing with his hair at the base of his neck.

He liked the fact she trusted him so easily, so sincerely. It moved him beyond words and it also brought forward that animal instinct of his. He knew he could take her right now in a darkened corner if he wanted, but he didn't just yet, it was not the time, it was not yet that hour. He already knew how, when and where he would have her. He would tease her first, make her want him, hunger for him and only then when she was on the verge of madness would he sate his own needs. He liked his women yearning beyond reason, but this woman he would make yearn beyond sanity. He wanted to drive her mad.

The rest of the night went smoothly. She was good, quiet, and polite. She played with her rose on the drive back, but always answered his questions. She was beat by the time they were at their apartment doors, and she thanked him for the evening with a kiss to his cheek, smiling a little. She was on the same track as him, though with different reasoning behind it. She was worried about getting too deep, and she was still unsure with relationships since the failure of her marriage. She wouldn't mind it, of course not, but she wouldn't make the first move.

Arleen knocked on Lucas's door about a week later. She was in a simple black dress that fell to her knees and held her curves well. Her hair had her natural curl and was down around her shoulders. She fiddled with her nails while she waited for him to appear.

He had been working on finding a virus in a computer of some guy at work he had become sort of friends with, about four am or so he gave up and decided to crash. He was sleeping, sprawled out on his bed in a pair of black silk boxers when the sound of knocking met his ears. At first he rolled over and buried his head in his pillows which were covered in the same material as his one item of clothing he had on, but then he happened to glance at his clock and shot up, it read five after noon. He never slept this late. Grumbling he went for the door and pulled it open without question as to his attire, "He—Oh, Arleen. Hey." He looked over her slowly, "You look nice." He ran a hand through his hair and looked down at himself, "Long night. Want to come in?" He stepped back and waited wondering why she was sort of randomly at his door.

She looked amused at his boxers and reached one hand forward tracing a nail along the waistband for just a moment, a small smirk on her face. Her eyes shot back up to his face. "You should get dressed in something nice but still casual." she said, shooting him a smile.

He blinked at her sudden show of forwardness, his eyes growing dark with ideas of a carnal nature. Soon he told himself and his body, soon but not today. He knew she would look wonderful against his black sheets, "Hm. Okay." He was okay with surprises, but he also liked to know where he was going, but for her he wouldn't pry too much. He got dressed quickly; khaki pants and a light blue polo shirt casually untucked and came back out after putting a little gel in his hair, "Lead the way." He smiled at her, waiting.

She smiled to him and led them down to her car. She had on heels, a good heel, a thin strap around her ankle, open toe. Her lips looked a little darker than normal and she had dark liner around her eyes. She drove them to Nobu, a sushi and seafood place, saying. "You like seafood, and this is far better than Red Lobster." with a smile on her face and in her eyes. They were seated at a booth and she settled in easily, happy she could take him out on a date as well. She was absently playing with one of her long, silver earrings.

He was impressed, he had heard about this place and wanted to go, but never exactly found the time, "Nice." He looked around studying the place and its patrons, but he kept coming back to study her. She was beginning to become a sort of center in his life; he noted how well put together she was in a sense. She was like him in a few ways but she wasn't completely similar either. He settled back and took a drink of water and smiled contently.

"I wasn't sure if you liked sushi, so I figured this place is a good middle ground, since they cook a lot of fish as well." she offered gently, in that quiet and easy voice. She was elegant, dainty, intelligent, and gentle, all at the same time, somehow. She ordered with the mark of someone who knew exactly what they were doing, and she was very good at thanking the wait staff on everything, and being sincere about it. She was a humble person, submissive. It clashed with Lucas's personality perfectly, in fact. Miso soup, chicken teriyaki, and sashimi was what she settled on.

"I enjoy sushi among other interesting cuisines." He ordered an interesting looking fish dish and some miso as well, he'd steal from her sashimi if he wanted some he decided. He also ordered a sparkling water with a lemon, regular water really wasn't his thing, "So what other foods do you enjoy?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I am fairly basic with my food choices, but I like to experiment. I could have steak and potatoes, or something I couldn't ever hope to pronounce." she smiled a little. "But I am most partial to pastas, and steak. And seafood. Though some days all I want is some Taco Bell. I'm easy when it comes to food."

He nodded, "Same here. We have a few similarities, how about that." He grinned a little and took a drink of his water, "Perhaps one of these nights I'll have to cook for you. I don't do it often, but I can cook." He admitted.

"I thought you said the best you could manage was a 'mean pot of mac and cheese', according to your roommate in college." she said, setting her jaw in her palm and looking vastly amused.

He laughed, "I said that?" He tried to look innocent, "Yes I did say that. Well, I'm a terrible liar sometimes." He smirked, "Plus it worked, my little lie." He looked at her and winked, completely amused, "It's an interesting story actually, see in college I couldn't cook so that wasn't a lie. But when I got out of college I figured unless I want to lose my striking physique I better not eat McDonalds for breakfast lunch and dinner. So I learned how to cook. The Food Network saved my ass… literally."

She laughed a little. "I love the Food Network. Gives me great ideas. In fact I think I've experimented on you a few times with food." she said, wrinkling up her nose to think. She nodded but then looked over at him. "So what would you cook, anyway? Or is a surpise?"

"Hmm. I thought a few things were familiar." He looked her up and down slowly, "You do strike me as the Rachel Ray type." He rubbed his has together as their soups were brought and picked up a spoon taking a taste before answering her question, "A little bit of this and that. You'll have to wait and see."

She wrinkled up her nose again. "Rather be Paula Deen than Rachel Ray. She's too excited about everything." she said, blowing down at her bowl of miso carefully.

"And Paula isn't?" He quirked a brow at her, "The woman is from the south…"Then he laughed again, amused by the thought that just entered his mind, "Could you imagine them doing a show together?" He shook his head slowly.

"My television would explode from happy, excited women with odd voices putting too much butter and sugar in things." she said, shaking her head, smiling gently, taking a sip of her soup.

"The world would never be the same again." He nodded, "Let's hope the food gods will never let that happen." He let the silence settle in as he went back to his own soup for the moment.

She was fighting to keep her giggling within, her soup bowl carefully held in her hands. She set it down after a swig. "So what else do you watch besides the Food Network?" she asked gently, tilting her head.

"Sports." He looked at her seriously, "And C-Span." He shrugged, "I'm a guy with a hidden nerd agenda."

"What type of sports?" She asked, setting up her chopsticks.

"Mostly Football and Hockey. Occasionally basketball if the Lakers are playing decent." He took a bite of his food and savored the flavor finding it very satisfying.

She ate delicately, she always did, but she even bit her sashimi in half. She was smiling and joking through most of the dinner, she often did, she had a very upbeat and happy personality. She paid for dinner and took him to a local ice cream chain for dessert. She got mint chocolate chip in a cup, leaning against his side and watching the sun go down on a bench over looking the ocean. She got him home, smiling and quietly pleased with herself. She stopped at her door, though it wasn't more than a few feet from his, her keys in her hands but not facing the door, she was still facing him. "Thanks for coming, Lucas." she whispered.

He nodded, leaning in and kissing her cheek, "It was fun." He let his fingers trail down her arm slowly before turning and going into his own apartment.


	17. Chapter 17

Tony was driving with Lucy and Edward, zipping along the highway, though he was being more cautious with his speed and his fast turns. However his car suddenly took on a life of its own and jerked to the right, and the engine coughed. He was cursing quietly, not looking around at first, trying to get the car restarted when he heard a loud honk. He glanced up and his eyes widened as he spotted a Mac truck going right for them. The only thing he could think to do was to grab his son and shift, trying to protect Edward with his body as he felt the impact of the car, remembering the sick crunch of metal from his childhood. His head hit the side of his door hard as the entire car lurched, dazing him, almost knocking him out.

He was able to refocus only a few minutes later and looked over. He well knew the lifeless look that was on his wife's face and he cried out, holding his son close. He got out of the car, moving away from it, his legs shaking and tears already pricking in his eyes, holding his son close against his chest, trying to soothe his crying. He dialed Peppers number, able to hear the faint, distant wail of sirens on their way.

It was quiet, but the offices often were this time of night. She was working on some reports that came due every four months when her phone sprang to life. She blinked and picked it up noting the number… Tony never called at this hour anymore, but curiosity got the better of her and she answered, "Hello?" She had a strange feeling that perhaps something was wrong, that gnawing feeling one often gets in their gut roared to life in hers.

"Pepper!" he said, his voice thick. Edward could be heard crying, there were sirens in the distance, and Tony sounded like he was about to fall over, his breathing hard and unsteady. "Pepper." he said again, letting out a small sob. Crashes were too much for him. This was too much for him.

Something was wrong, "Tony… what's going on? What happened?" She heard sirens and Edward crying, "Where are you?" Her eyes filled with panic as she waited for him to tell her what was going on, although a part of her didn't want to know.

"Crash." he said, sitting down in the middle of the lane, holding his head in his hand, the phone tucked against his ear and shoulder, holding Edward close still. "Car crash."

She was speechless… she couldn't say anything for a minute or two, "Are you okay? Is Lucy and Edward?" Edward was crying, she could hear him loud and clear, "What happened?" Her mind was whirling a thousand different directions, "Just a moment, I'm going to call Hap and get him there. Just hang on Tony okay." She picked up her office phone and dialed her husband quickly and explained the situation and gave him Tony's location after tracking his cell on her computer, "Hurry Harold…please hurry." She hung up and put her Blackberry back to her ear, "I'm still here, just talk to me okay. Keep talking… it's going to be okay."

"Lucy is dead." he whispered, curling up around his son, finally letting in and sobbing quietly into the phone, gasping for air and gripping the phone tightly.

Harold was already rushing through LA traffic to find his boss, weaving through cars easily, his driving skills expert.

Pepper felt tears well in her eyes at the sound of those words and how they came from the man's lips and into her ear. She slowly sank into her desk chair a strange sense of defeat overcoming her, "I'm sorry Tony… I'm so sorry." She was crying with him, for him… for his dead wife, for poor little Edward, "I'm sorry." She repeated softly.

He cried for a few moments, but then he whispered he had to go, people were asking him questions and Happy was already there. He stood shakily and got his head treated while the police spoke to him and Harold held Edward.

Pepper sat there completely stunned, slowly she lowered her phone and placed it on her desk, the sound echoing around her. Lucy was dead…no more, gone, killed in a car crash like his parents had been. She couldn't even begin to imagine Tony's devastation, she had no idea what to do… she got her keys and slowly made her way to the elevator and then to her car. She drove quietly to the Stark Manor and went inside and waited. The place felt empty and she could feel the pressing void that weighed it down now… oddly the place would never be the same again.

Tony appeared almost an hour later, and once he spotted Pepper he almost ran to her, wrapping his arms tightly around her, his face going against her collarbone. Harold followed after him and frowned at the two of them. He knew what had gone on between Pepper and their boss, but he never let it show. So he made his frown simply sympathetic.

She held him, letting him find comfort, trying to comfort him as much as she could. Her hands moved slowly up and down his back as she looked at her husband over the broken man clinging to her. Her eyes were red from crying and she wanted to cry again but didn't, she knew she had to be strong for him that she had to be his rock right now, "Hap, can you take care of Edward and then put some coffee on, it's going to be a long night." Her voice was soft as she sighed heavily and continued to try to soothe Tony.

He nodded. Jarvis appeared and told her he had the coffee. Harold looked a little startled by him, but he took the chance to hide away from everyone while putting Edward to sleep. Tony wasn't crying anymore, but he wasn't held together well right now.

He was still in her arms; she figured he had to be completely exhausted as well, "Tony…you need to try to get some rest okay. I'm going to stay here; I'll be right out here on the sofa if you need me okay." She managed to stand and held out her hand for him, "Come on, I'll help you, Hap is taking care of Edward."

He nodded weakly, letting her lead him, tired and worn out. But he let out a small sound when he found himself near the master bedroom and he instantly dug his heels in, not moving any closer.

She turned and looked at him, "You can't never go in there again Tony…" Her tone was concerned, "But I suppose for tonight a guest room will have to do." She sighed and led him back up the hall to the front guest room and opened the door, "Why don't you go take a nice warm shower and I'll get you some fresh clothes, okay?" She brushed his hair back from his forehead gently, "It's going to be okay Tony I promise. I'm here. I'll take care of you."

He gave her a pleading look, but nodded sullenly. He slunk into a guest room, staying in the shower longer than normal.

She felt her heart breaking into pieces as she walked carefully into the master bedroom. A part of her wished that if she glanced at the bed a slender lump would be there beneath the covers… but she knew it wouldn't be there, so she focused on her task getting a fresh change of clothes for Tony before leaving the room glad to be out of it and made her way up the hall hearing the shower still running. Sighing heavily, Pepper made her way into the steam filled bathroom and sat down on the toilet seat cover, "Are you okay?" She asked softly, "I got you some clothes; I'll be just outside the door if you need anything." She stood up and left the clothes where she had been sitting.

He came outside of the bathroom, dressed in the relaxed clothing, looking worn down. He told her he wasn't going to do much, he just wanted to be left alone, and he went into his sons room to lay down.

Harold was waiting for Pepper out in the living room. "So, what does this mean for us?" he asked, raising his brows at her.

She left the guest room and walked into the living room, she looked tired and worn out as she sank onto the sofa and closed her eyes a moment until Harold's voice cut into the air, "Excuse me?" Her eyes opened and she looked at him, "What do you mean? What are you getting at?" She stood up, a long night indeed, she moved towards the kitchen and the coffee.

"You know what I mean, Pepper." he whispered. His voice was quiet and almost submissive. "I know what happened between you two. Lucy isn't in the way anymore."

She slammed the cupboard closed and then slammed the coffee mug down on the counter and turned around, "We're not having this conversation right now." She snapped and poured herself a cup of coffee steadily and shook her head disappointedly, pursing her lips after taking a long swallow of the coffee.

"Ginger." he whispered, frowning at her. "I've been dangled on a string for almost 2 years. I think I deserve to know if you're going to leave me now because he is free and needs someone to support him." he kept his voice soft, and his eyes held hurt as he watched her.

"I've always supported him." She sat the coffee mug down, "It's my job to do that, what would you like me to do? Leave him here alone… I can't believe this. You're bringing this up now." She shook her head, "I'm amazed you're not hiding the divorce papers in your pocket." Her words were cruel, she held back the tears as she stared disbelieving at her husband, "And for your information once Lucy became pregnant we ended it. It was over, done with. Nothing has happened since then. Nothing."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better? That once he managed to get one of you knocked up that it was ended?" he asked, his voice finally becoming angry.

The tears fell slowly, she didn't want them too, but they did. She couldn't believe this, she couldn't believe him… she wished this was all some terrible nightmare that she'd wake up from, "Good one, you couldn't even knock me up so what makes you think he'd have a different result? Damnit." She pushed passed him and back into the living room again wiping at her eyes, "I love you… isn't that enough? What do you want from me?"

"It's _my_ fucking fault, now? And do you love me? This is how you treat people you love?" he growled, following after her.

"No it's mine. I can't give you a child… I'm sorry. I wish I could, but I can't." Her voice rose, "I made a mistake, it was wrong… But this is not the time or the place for this conversation Harold." She folded her arms, her blue eyes alive and on fire.

"You made several fucking mistakes from what I saw. Did you think of him when we fucked?" he growled, bristling, his hands out of his pockets.

"No. And stop being an ass." She stared at him… the hurt in her eyes obvious. She felt alone and frightened, like a deer caught in headlights, "This conversation is over. We'll finish it later." Her voice took that commanding tone.

"No. We'll fucking finish this now. Just tell me if you honestly want to be married to me or if you're going to divorce me." he said, backing her up into a wall, growling and angry.

"No. We. Won't." She snapped back at him, her back against the wall, "You need to go home and cool off. It's been a hell of a night for everyone and neither of us are prepared for this conversation right now."

He wouldn't get an answer because Tony was suddenly there, a sharp kick to Harolds side when almost knocked him down. Harold righted himself and snarled at Tony

She Didn't notice Tony until Hap suddenly doubled and she looked over, "Tony. No." Her eyes snapped towards her husband, "No. We're not going to do this." She tried to step between them her hands out.

Tony was livid, switching every emotion he had felt that day to rage, his teeth bared and his eyes flashing. He kept Pepper from stepping between them, trying to shield her with his body.

This angered Harold. "Don't you act like you have to protect**_ my_** _wife_ from me!" he snapped, waiting for Tony to go at him

Pepper had no idea what to do… she never in her wildest dreams thought this could happen, she figured her infidelity was over and forgotten about, but apparently she was wrong. She tried again to get between them, aggravated that Tony wouldn't let her as she looked at Harold, "Harold pull yourself together and knock it off." She finally worked her way around Tony and stepped up to the seething man, "At least give Lucy the respect and give her widowed husband and son some peace. Please. She deserves that."

Harold was bristling and obviously about to say something with Jarvis appeared, grabbing Harolds arm and telling him to leave. Tony kept close behind Pepper, growling after Harold.

She looked thankfully at Jarvis and then rounded on Tony, "Back to bed. I can fight my own battles." She ordered him, trying to keep herself together in front of him because she didn't want to break apart, she didn't need to be comforted, she didn't deserve it right now and her mistakes and this moment was not about her, it was about Tony and his loss and his son. She turned back to Harold and looked at him, silent for a moment or two, "You're right, I made a lot of mistakes… but what you did here tonight makes you no better than me Harold. I can't believe you honestly wanted to discuss this in such a way. I'm disappointed in you… I thought you were better than this, but apparently we've both been wrong about one another haven't we." Her voice was shaking as she tried to keep her emotions in check.

Tony looked a bit hurt, but he slipped away once more, disappearing into the hallways. Harold growled but left. And the Royce could be heard being driven off.

Once she was alone… Pepper sank into the sofa and cried. She knew this conversation would arise between, but not like this and not under these circumstances. She did her best to try to cry as quietly as she could, she felt confused having no idea what she was going to do. For one of the rare moments in her life she was afraid of what would come.

Jarvis was there at her side, a steady presence and a caring arm around her shoulders, trying to whisper to her to calm her.

She was appreciative of Jarvis, she dried her eyes after a few moments and then curled up on the sofa, "Thank you Jarvis, I'll be okay. Just keep track of Tony and Edward." She grabbed the light throw and wrapped it around her, she knew she probably wouldn't sleep, but she'd try.

"Mrs. Hogan, might I suggest a guest room?" he asked quietly, frowning down at her.

She sighed, "I promised him I'd be out here. I'm fine…but thank you." She smiled reassuringly and tiredly at the AI.

"If you insist, Mrs. Hogan." he whispered, giving her a small frown but he lowered the lights for her and setting the thermostat to the perfect setting for her to be out there, dissolving into the system once more.

"I do, Jarvis. Thank you… for everything." She settled down, curling up as tight as she could while watching the shadows drift along the room. She knew dawn was slowly approaching and she knew she'd never sleep now, maybe tomorrow night if she was lucky… but where she would sleep was uncertain.

Jarvis closed the shutters over the window silently, his presence remaining in the room in the hopes in would comfort her

She laid there and thought a lot, she wanted to do the right thing, but the right thing wasn't always the choice she wanted… she knew she never should've married Harold, that was her first mistake of a string of mistakes, but she had…she had justified it to herself that it was the right choice when in fact it was as proven tonight the very wrong choice. She took a deep breath and sighed quietly… she had never felt this alone before or this hurt.

Jarvis heard her sighing, and his presence seemed to be around her, trying desperately to calm her.

"I'm okay… I'll be okay Jarvis." She was saying this more for herself than for him because she wasn't okay, she sighed again and pulled the throw up around her more, "What am I going to do…" She closed her eyes and tried to force herself to relax, to at least doze a little if nothing else.

Jarvis left her be, remaining silent and going back to simply being sentry to the room.


	18. Chapter 18

A week passed, Lucas got busy with work and managed to at least say hi to Arleen when he could. It was a Friday morning when he found out the worst news in his life, as he skimmed through the morning paper his eyes stopped on the obituaries, "Son of a bitch." He threw the paper down and snatched his cell phone hitting the six speed dial number. He waited and when there was an answer he spoke, "What happened?" His blue eyes narrowed coldly, "I saw the paper this morning with a delayed obituary for a Lucy Stark and I know there's not that many Lucy Starks in Malibu." He gritted his teeth as the voice on the other end tried to explain, "I'm taking my money back and I will see to it personally that you rot in your own personal hell." He threw the phone against the wall taking satisfaction as it broke apart. He had other phones.

Arleen, reading her own paper, looked up at the sharp smack against the wall. She was just in a black silk nightgown, but she left her apartment smelling of coffee and knocked gently on his door, putting her shoulder against the doorframe. "Lucas?" she whispered, worried.

He answered the door, practically throwing it open the anger in his eyes obvious as he stood there in pajama pants and a robe, his feet bare. He eyed the woman at his door, and took a deep breath, "Yes?" He did his to appear calm and collected, wondering if she knew him well enough to see he was highly agitated.

She had jerked back a little as the door flew open, bringing her hands up to her chest as if to try and protect her sternum. She frowned when she saw the look on his face, in his eyes. "Everything alright, Lucas?" she breathed, her legs almost completely bare, as the nightgown only went down to slightly above mid-thigh. It had just thin straps and was cut low like a summer tank top. She reached out carefully and touched his arm to try and soothe him, though she's cautious as if a little worried he'd attack her.

He noticed her current attire finally and snatched her arm, pulling her inside before she could be seen, "People in this building gossip too much." He stated and closed the door locking it, "I just found out a business dealing went bad. I'll be fine, there's more than one way to skin a cat." He picked up the discarded paper from his small two person table just beyond his sofa and moved into the kitchen, ignoring the broken cell phone.

She pursed her lips, but picked up what she could of the cellphone, then followed after him. She set down the remains of the cellphone on the counter and moved over to him, setting her hands on his shoulders and pushing into his muscle gently. "You need to relax more. You're always so tense." she observed, sighing at him and pushing her thumbs into a few knots in his upper back, being careful and gentle to ensure she didn't hurt him.

He groaned; the sound was both frustrating and sexual. She was right, he was tense for so many reasons, some of them she could help him with. He let his robe slip off him by way of a small movement so she could massage his back better, his hands pressed hard into the counter, causing his skin to turn white around his pressure points. He wanted her, but his mood made him leery of taking her… what he wanted to do her seemed unfit for the sort of woman she was and yet her submissive nature pulled at his dominance like a drug.

She rested her hips against his ass, it was just an easier position for what she was doing with her arms, and she nuzzled his neck with her nose in an attempt to relax him more as she kept working on his back.

Did she know what she was doing? Did she know she had just signaled him, given him the go ahead? He whirled around, his eyes dark. Beneath his closed lips, his teeth clenched as he ran his hands over her shoulders and down to her waist and lower until his fingers dug into her ass and pulled her up giving her no choice but to put her legs around him. One hand left her buttocks and dove into her hair, pulling her head back and arching her neck. His lips fell against her pulse there and he ran his tongue along the particular vein, tracing it as he began to move towards his bedroom.

She squeaked, much like she had when he had dipped her only a few weeks ago, gripping onto him a bit startled, but she relaxed a little when she realized what exactly was happening. She let him move her as he pleased and she kept her head back for him

He lowered her onto his unmade bed, the room was a wash of white and black. The walls white, but everything else black. His bed was done with iron wrought work, the headboard an elaborate mix of flourishes and various twists and turns. He sat up, his knees resting beneath her, making her lower half arch towards him. He ran his hands down to her hips then up her sides, pulling the silky fabric of her nightgown up as his hands moved. Once he got to her shoulders he shifted and went back down her arms stopping at her wrists and grabbing them tightly bringing them above her head and tying them there as gently as possible with the silk cords that called his headboard home. He let his eyes take in her arched basically naked body and felt himself grow completely hard as his hands began to skim lightly down her body, over her breasts back towards her hips.

She kept her legs around his hips, not even blinking as he tied her hands back above her head. Her heart was racing and her pupils were dilated, her eyes were dark and heated. Everywhere he touched seemed to burn and she arched her back a little up against his fingers, biting her bottom lip, her eyes locked on his face.

He leaned down, his breathe hot against the soft skin of her stomach. He dragged his tongue around her bellybutton and then nipped his way up to her stomach. His hands held her down, resting just below the swell of her breasts, his hands pressing into her sides in a commanding possessive manner. He then lowered himself across her and looked at her, biting her lower lip, "Trust me." He said simply and worked a blind fold over her eyes.

"I do." she whispered, closing her eyes behind the blindfold, a nervous excitement rushing through her stomach.

"Good girl." He spoke into her ear and then moved away from her for a moment. He knelt next to her and slowly removed her underwear, dragging the article down her legs slowly before dropping them at the foot of the bed. He removed his pajama bottoms, usually going commando for bed he parted her legs and placed himself between them.

She shivered just a little as he settled between her thighs. She was obviously aroused, her nipples perking and her skin flushing. She tightened her legs around his hips for just a moment. She was breathing a little harder, a little deeper and heavier, but she was completely relaxed under him, ready and waiting for anything, focusing on feeling of his skin on hers.

He lowered himself down on the bed, his hands pulling her hips up sharply. He laid there for a moment or two just breathing against her core, wanting to make her writhe with anticipation.

She lost her air as he pulled her hips up, shuddering a little and nipping her bottom lip again.

He finally lowered his mouth onto her, his tongue sliding across her slowly. He held her hips tight so that she could barely move them if at all. He could take all day at this, he was in no hurry and he felt like torturing her with need and desire by bringing her to that edge over and over but never letting her fall over it until he wanted her to do so.

She let out a small, squeaky gasp, her back arching but her hips remaining in place. She let out a long sigh as she realized her predicament.

She was in his control and he liked that. She was willing, he dragged his tongue with a little more pressure across her, pausing to swirl the tip around that particular little bud of pleasure. He withdrew his tongue and blew his warm breath over her. He looked up at her, his eyes still dark, his expression predatory, "You taste good." His tone was deep and dark. He reached up and pulled the blindfold from her eyes, tossing it aside… he wanted her to see what he was doing, it would after all be more torturous.

She flushed, more than she already was, her eyes dark as she locked her eyes with his once the blindfold was off. She some how managed the presence of mind to whisper a quiet. "Thank you." She did in fact flush all over.

He arched a brow at her, thank you? He laughed against her finding that amusing and then slowly sat up and undid the silk cords from her wrists and then before she could recover he turned her onto her stomach and raised her hips again and placed a finger inside of her, feeling her slight wetness as he removed said finger and then slowly entered it again while keeping her ass pressed back against him.

She let out a small gasp, her hands grabbing at his sheets, pushing against him a little, her eyes closed again, her back arched as it had been, her breathing lower and faster.

He removed his finger from her and pulled back from her a little his hands now resting on her waist just above her hips. He held tightly to them to keep her from moving, his fingers digging into her skin sharply as he waited another moment or two before angling her a little bit more and then began to slowly sink himself into her, gritting his teeth as he does so, her body around his feeling amazing.

She lost her breath in a moan, her body tensing as she tried to push back against him, her eyes open and foggy with pleasure. She mumbled his name, gripping at his sheets still, shivering around him, under his hands.

She was his; he could mold her and make her as he chose. He was completely in control, but his control was slipping and soon he gave into his animal nature and slid in the rest of the way quickly and hard, a grunt of pleasure leaving his lips as he threw his own head back at the sensation. It was a somewhat tight fit, but it felt good, so good that he stilled for a moment or two before pulling back and plunging back into her again with a little more force until finally he had set a rhythm he was satisfied with.

She lost her breath every time he pushed in, pushing back against him, tilting her own head back with a soft moan before bowing it forward again. As the pace increased her breathing increased. She shook a little at particularly hard thrusts in pleasure, letting out a shuddering moan and whispering his name.

He leaned over and hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her up and back against him. In this position he could control her better, it would be him alone that did the moving as he tightened his arm and rocked into her sharply. His other hand snaked down to work at her with his fingers as well with slow teasing movements. He nibbled at the back of her ear before trailing down her neck and sucking at the tender skin there just above her shoulder.

Her heart was fluttering and despite wanting to reach a hand back and grab his hair, she kept herself restrained. She shook and moaned as he pumped into her, giving up on trying to push back as she realized he wanted to be in complete control. She tilted her head to give him access, her back arching and a sharper moan escaping from her as he sucked on her skin

He placed his teeth over that spot and bit down a little, not enough to draw blood but enough to leave a mark. Some of his former girlfriends called him a vampire for this move, others had found it far too animalistic for them… but he did it anyways. He intensified his motions and then all the sudden slowed them down painfully. He wanted to feel her lose control, he wanted to feel that madness as she climaxed and restrain her, hold her tightly while she lost all self control.

Her hands pulled up a little and she gasped at his bite, melting against him a bit, shaking. She let out a quiet whine/moan as he slowed down. She whimpered his name, trying to sound as begging as possible as she figured that was what he liked. However every time he pushed all the way in, with his fingers still teasing her, her hips gave a small jerk, and it wouldn't take too much more time to push her over the edge, though it was easier to do so for her at a faster pace

He stilled a moment and then pulled back sharply before plunging in again in the same manner, his arm moving from around her waist a moment to also encircle her arms, his hold tight and controlling so when she was finally spent she'd have to fight to squirm, to move. His other hand pressed against her pelvis as his fingers began to move faster and harder against her, his own breath becoming sharp and erratic as he moved back up to her ear his breath hot against it as he nuzzled his face against the side of her head, "Do you want to let go? Do you want me to move faster? Harder? Both?" He hissed into her ear, "Tell me what you want Arleen." He pushed deeper, his voice rough sounding, "Tell me."

She's flushed and panting, shaking in his hold and moaning with his thrusts. She moaned more as he went deeper. She really wanted to answer him but he was overloading her so all she managed was a small whimper before squirming in his grasp, her head falling back against his shoulder, as she was pushed over the edge. Her lips parted and her chest heaving, moaning a little sharper, clenching around him.

The fact that he had her so completely under his control that she couldn't speak was enough to send him crashing just shortly after she began, her becoming tight around him sent him further into release as his hips move in an erratic manner a guttural cry leaving his lips as his arm tightened around her and his other hand moved up to grip her hip, keeping her back against him until he was spent. He let her go carefully, lowering her to the bed and shifting to lay down beside her, his hand skimming across the curve of her body possessively.

She was still breathing hard, not even trying to move from how he had laid her out, her eyes mainly closed, her hands finally relaxing from the tight grip she had on the sheets. She glanced over at him, flushing a little more once again.

He pulled her to him and kissed her gently, his arms wrapping around her for a moment. Normally he would indulge himself in a cigar after sex, directly after. He eyed the silver cigar case on the stand next to him and shifted a little until he was on his back keeping her against him and proceeded with his usual routine, settling back with a satisfied sigh as he removed the cigar and blew a ring of smoke from his mouth.

"Are you less tense?" she asked, fighting to keep the laugh out of her voice, pressed against his side contentedly.

"Mmm. Yup." He managed to get out without removing the cigar from his mouth, he looked to her, "I'd offer one, but you don't strike me as a cigar girl." He smirked a little at a few ideas that popped into his mind about her being a cigar girl, but kept them to himself for now as he absentmindedly played with a strand of her hair.

"I could be. My grandfather liked cigars and I smoked cigarettes in my youth." she teased, resting her cheek on his shoulder. After a few quiet moments she asked, "Any other plans for today, Lucas? Do you want me to make you breakfast?"

He looked at her, his eyes still dark and intense, "But I've already eaten." He licked his lips slowly at her and then eyed the time, "Do _you_ have any plans for today?" He could spend all day like this in bed with her, "Actually breakfast does sound nice, but allow me." He put out the cigar and left it resting on the ash tray and stood, slipping his bottoms back on and headed for the kitchen.

She flushed at his words, but fixed her gown and followed after him, not bothering to pluck her underwear off the ground, taking comfort in the almost sore feeling as she walked after him. She hadn't had sex since her marriage.

He walked into the kitchen and pulled out some frying pans sitting them on the stove and then some eggs, bacon and hash browns. He also turned his coffee pot on and got out two mugs sitting them on the counter and began to fry the bacon.

She settled down in one of the chairs at his table for two, watching him, her heart just finally going down to it's normal rhythm. She felt very relaxed and content, though was a bit surprised by his sudden attack. She watched him cook with a small smile.

He wasn't a flashy cook, he kept it simple as the coffee maker made that all too familiar sound signally that the coffee was ready. He looked to her and then to the coffee maker, "Think you can handle the coffee? There's also some juice in the fridge." He snatched two plates from the cupboard and put some hash browns on each before grabbing a third plate to place the bacon on.

"Oh, gee, I don't know." she said, rolling her eyes at him and getting up, walking over to the kitchen, asking him how he wanted his coffee as she took hers black.

"A little cream. I have some Irish Cream Creamer in the fridge." He placed some bacon on the plate and continued to cook some more while turning the oven on very low and placing the plates in there to keep the hash browns warm.

She managed to judge a good amount of cream into his mug, and then set it down on the counter next to him before sipping her own, resting her lower back against the counter next to his mug.

He took his cup and sipped it carefully, "Perfect." He smiled at her and finished up the bacon and placed it down inside the oven as well, "How do you like your eggs?" He sat his mug down and touched her arm briefly.

"Over easy." she said, leaning into his hand just a little, smiling to him over the rim of her mug.

Breakfast was oddly casual. They talked, laughed and acted like they had done this for years. It was oddly comforting, which was odd in itself as far as Lucas was concerned. After breakfast was over and he reluctantly let her help him load the dishwasher and clean up the mess he looked to her and had an idea, "Go get dressed in something casual." He gave her a little push tap on her butt.

She gave him a look but nodded, heading out the door after an over the shoulder smile. She showered and dressed quickly, showing up in a tank top, unzipped zip-up hoodie and well fitting jeans. In sneakers she was a modest height of 5'5. Her hair was still wet and she was without makeup, though she normally was. "Ready." she said as soon as he opened the door.

He looked her over slowly, "Do you have shorts?" he was dressed in a pair of black shorts and a t shirt from In and Out Burger, he also had a backpack slung over his shoulder and sunglasses on his face.

"Very tiny shorts that I probably shouldn't go into public in. But I get cold easily anyway." she protested, tilting her head at him.

He arched his brows beneath the sunglasses, "Well go grab them in case you change your mind." He closed his door behind them and would wait patiently. He smirked a little, pretty sure she had no idea what he was up too.

She nodded and went and snagged her shorts. She wandered back out. "I'll probably regret not putting on sunscreen, won't I?" she asked, giving him a look.

"You'll be fine. Trust me." He had some in his pack. He pulled out a handkerchief once they got down to his car and then placed it over her eyes like a blindfold, kissing her while he tied it into place, "It's a surprise." He helped her into the car and drove for a little while, the music was currently Opera a collection of various songs. Once they reached their destination he looked at her, "Remember you trust me. No peeking now." He got out of the car and moved around to help her get out and lead her out and onto his boat, "Okay you can remove the blind fold now." He had a bottle of sunscreen in his hand for her.

When they made the transition from land to boat she gripped onto his arm a little tighter, unsure of her balance, but she never peeked. She pulled off her blindfold and laughed quietly at the offered bottle of sunscreen. "Is this yours?" she asked gently, already at work applying her sunscreen.

He nodded and began making preparations to cast off. The boat was a small yacht; it had a small cabin a good sized deck and one of those large lounge pads at the front of the boat where several people could sun together. He turned the engine on, "Ready for some adventure?" He began to back the boat out slowly.

She settled on the side, her still slightly damp hair catching the wind. She watched him out of the corner of her eye, happy about the romantic gesture. "Yes, I believe I am." She answered with a smile.

He pulled safely out of the harbor and moved towards the open ocean, "My Dad bought me this as a high school graduation present. Instead of the usual car, I got a boat." It was a perfect day for boating, not a cloud in the sky, a little bit of a breeze to keep it cool and the water was blue as blue.

"I would have never had guessed it was that old." she said, a small smirk on her face as she knew he was older than her. It wasn't by a lot, but it was enough for her to poke fun at.

He eyed her playfully annoyed and laughed, "Be nice or I'll make a sudden sharp turn and you'll be all wet." He moved the boat out into more open water and looked at her, "Ever been deep sea fishing?"

She laughed, sticking her tongue out at him. "You wouldn't get me wet. I'd get water all over inside your boat." She said, fighting back more laughter. At his question she nodded. "My father is under the belief that if it is alive we should hunt it, and kill it."

He smirked at her and then chuckled, "Hm. Sounds like I'd get along well with Dad." He stopped the boat and lowered the anchor and disappeared for a moment or down into the cabin. He came back up with fishing gear, "Alright then, let's see what you've got." He handed her a pole and began to get his ready.

Despite her often dainty manner, she had absolutely no qualms with putting bait on a hook, dead or alive. She obviously well knew her way with fishing and was set up within just a few minutes and settled in a chair, relaxed.

"I'm impressed." He looked at her, his ready just a few seconds after hers. He put it in the pole slot and settled next to her, "So do you enjoy outdoor activities then?" He stretched out, crossing his bare ankles having discarded his shoes when he got the fishing gear.

"Yes. Hiking, camping, fishing, even hunting." She said, getting out of her zip-up hoodie and switching out her jeans for her shorts. Her tattoos were again visible as she lounged back, her mid-drift showing, her discarded clothing folded up neatly.

"Excellent. We'll have to go hiking and camping then." He enjoyed these things himself, though he rarely did them. What fun was it alone? He smiled contently, glad he had someone to share things with, that enjoyed what he did for the most part. He offered to get her something to drink having soda, water and beer available.

"Anything works. Just watch out leaving your pole too long. If something bites and I hook it, it's mine, not yours." she said, smiling to him. She was acting just a little more relaxed and joking with him now, but it wasn't a personality switch, just her opening up to him more.

He nodded, "Fair enough." He stood and checked his line pulling it up a moment and then repositioning it, "Sometimes they bite, sometimes they don't." He looked at her, admiring her in the sun and enjoying the way it glinted off her hair when suddenly he noted one of the poles moving a bit, "I think you got something." He stood just in case she needed backup.

She had felt it as well and her eyes had locked on the tip of her pole, her whole body frozen. It dipped again and she, still sitting, jerked the pole back sharply once, and then tested it for a moment. She felt something pulling and shot him a triumphant smirk before working on whatever it was. It wasn't huge, but it felt like it would be big enough to keep and use as more bait

He watched her, fascinated as she worked at getting the fish. There was something mesmerizing about her that he found it hard to stop looking at her, especially when she was doing something that made her look like she was right in her element. He stepped back and folded his arms, a hint of a soft smile on his face.

She played with it for a while, but finally tired it out enough to pull it in. She set her hips on the edge, actually pulling her feet off the deck to snag the fish. "Are you fine using it as bait?" she asked, looking over her shoulder. The fish was as long as her forearm.

He came over and looked at it, "Sure, I'm fine with it. It'd just get eaten by a bigger fish anyways." He adjusted his line a little and looked to her, "It figures the fish would like you more. You're far better looking than I am." He chuckled.

She took the knife they had and easily gutted the fish, chumming the water. She was cutting over the water so she wouldn't get anything in his boat. Once she had it in satisfying pieces she got the hook out of the head, tossing the head into the water as well, baited her line again, and cast it out once more. She bumped her hip against his. "Now that's not true. Big name fishermen are always redneck, ugly, and beer toting." she said, smiling to him.

"True. And lately they've taken to wearing speedos." He cringed visibly, "I'm scarred for life I swear." He moved around her and settled his arms about her loosely and kissed her neck before sighing contently and resting his chin on her shoulder looking down into the ocean, "Maybe we'll see some sharks now that you chummed the water." He liked sharks, he found them to be powerful and yet graceful creatures.

"We'd better not catch one." she said, settling back against his chest. "My dad pulled one into the boat and it flailed around, ate one of the chairs, and almost broke someones leg before they were able to get it back into the water." she mumbled, amused.

"How big was it? What kind?" He was suddenly very interested, "It ate a chair? Really?" He tried to picture this in his mind, "There's a trick if you happen to snag one. I'll show you if we do." He loved how her scent mixed with the smell of the ocean and the sunscreen she was wearing, he closed his eyes a moment and breathed in deeply.

"I wasn't there, but dad swears up and down it was 15 feet long." she rolled her eyes. "And I'm not sure. Some type of shark that isn't a Great White or a Tiger Shark." she smiled over her shoulder at him. "But yes, it ate a chair. Not the whole chair, but a lot of the chair."

He had to chuckle at that, "Interesting." He let go of her slowly and went down into the cabin for a moment to grab him a soda and came back up looking around slowly, "So think we should keep here a little longer or try another location?"

"Keep here. Locations aren't dry unless you've sat there 3 hours or so." she said, smiling. She was a very patient person in every aspect, and fishing was just an element where she shone brightly thanks to her patience. She settled back against him once he was sitting down again, sighing in contentedness.

He nodded, "That is a point." He let an arm drape over her as she leaned against him and closed his eyes a moment or two enjoying the warmth of the sun, "What was childhood like for you?" He felt like he was playing twenty questions, but he wanted to get to know this woman, a lot.

"Simple, normal. Only upset I can think of was my father being an alcoholic. But he wasn't an angry drunk, but I just remember him being drunk a lot. And his Vietnam stories. And my older brother being the one to try and take care of me and my younger brother until I was able to cook for us, since mom and dad worked a lot, and often late." she explained with a small and easy shrug of her shoulders. "And you?"

"So you did well in school had lots of friends and all that then?" He looked at her and felt like she was hiding something, but didn't press the issue, "typical as well. I got along well with most other kids, did sports and all that. Wanted to grow up to be a marine biologist. Surprise, surprise." He chuckled, "My Dad had a good job, Mom stayed at home."

"Well, not really. I didn't hang out with other kids until highschool. And who I did hang out with was because of my older brother. I wasn't like a social outcast, but I wasn't very popular either." she explained a little better. She smiled at his marine biologist crack. "Me too. Only I wanted to specialize in sea otters."

"Cute. Sea otters." He mused, "I bet you can't guess mine." He joked and nodded, "I wanted the status, I had pride issues as a kid and a teen so I did everything I could. I'm pretty sure most of my peers hated me in truth." He was very sure in fact.

"I doubt people _hated _you." she protested, brushing his hair back like she had the night he mistook her door for his.

He shrugged, a lot of people throughout his life has hated him, but it oddly didn't seem to bother him, but for her he looked hurt by the idea… he didn't care what most people thought, but he was really beginning to care about what she thought, "Okay so I've asked you enough questions, have any for me?" He looked curious and pretty sure she did.

"Why do you like sharks? Like, sea otters are cute and fluffy and do cute little human things with their hands. But sharks are often depicted as evil and such. So, what draws you to them?" she asked, tilting her head. Though it was also a subtle question as to why he was interested in her, since lawyers were often depicted as sharks.

"They're powerful and graceful at the same time." He answered without hesitation, "They're the top of the food chain, they'll even kill their own." He looked out at the ocean for a moment, "And they're dangerous… yet unless they deem you worth their time or you look like food they could care less about you."

She laughed a little. "Have you ever gone swimming with sharks?" she asked, tilting her head to one side with a small smile on her face.

He nodded, "A few times, once without a cage… that was a helluva exhilarating experience. Highly recommend it." He smiled at her and looked out across the ocean blue, getting lost for a moment in watching the gentle waves that made the boat rock ever so slightly.

She remained against him most of the time. They only had a few more bites, but didn't manage to bring anything in the rest of the day. She made them dinner when they got back to their apartments, and she had a bit of a sunburn thanks to how long they were out on the boat. She settled down against his side a little as they ate. And they finally parted ways a short while after dinner.


	19. Chapter 19

He had had a few drinks, but not enough to be wasted or even a little buzzed. He held his liquor well, it was while he was going for his car that she came strolling up, she knew him and he knew her as he used to be a regular customer… but not recently, "Hey Lucas. How ya been?" Came the cool voice causing him to turn and look the woman over, her name was Lisa, or at least that's what she had told him. She stirred something in him with her fake full breasts and too skinny frame… something primal. He had her back at the apartment in record time, her short dress hiked well above her hips, and her skinny legs around his hips, her stripper heels digging into his thighs.

He slammed her back into the wall as he slammed the door shut with his foot and dropped his keys on the floor. He hesitated a moment before moving towards his bedroom, there was something in the back of his mind screaming no. He threw the woman down onto his bed and looked at her for a moment catching his breath, "Come on lover." She crooked a finger at him and he groaned in frustration, but she took it as something else and crawled towards him, her nimble fingers beginning to work on his belt, "I'll make ya feel all better here inna moment."

Arleen was reading a book, Trouble curled up with her on her bed, her shoulder against the wall separating her apartment from his. She paused when she heard his door slam, and a thump against a wall, somewhere in his apartment. Worried, she sat down her book, listening for any other thumps. She squinted her eyes as she could hear muffled words, and she stood, grabbing her phone, and slipping into her office which was against his bedroom, as his office was against hers. She pressed her ear against the wall, holding her breath, worried for Lucas. She just barely heard the word "moment" and she furrowed her brows, listening a little harder.

He ran his hands through the woman's over dyed blonde hair, his mind was distracted and she looked up at him as she drew herself up to eye level, forgetting about his pants for the moment, "You okay Lucas?" She seemed concerned, "Tell ya what, no charge this time. Hows about that?" It was those words that seemed to snap him back into reality as he pushed the woman away, "Go home Lisa. Get out." He moved away from her, fixing his clothes when suddenly she was behind him, her slender hands sliding down between his legs. He turned sharply and grabbed her wrists, "I said leave." With those words he gave her a bit of a shove which landed her back on his bed, "Mmm, thata boy I know you like it rough." She hiked her dress back up showing she wasn't wearing any sort of underwear and motioned to him again, "Come and get it. You know you want it, you can do whatever you want to me. I know what you like lover boy."

He turned again, coming over to the bed and snatched her by her wrists once more and drug her off the bed, "Sonofabitch Lucas! That fricken hurt. You asshole." He pointed to his bedroom door, "Get. The. Hell. Out of my apartment. Now." He watched her scramble, adjust her dress and stumble out into the hall, " Out." He yelled, following her as they both reached the living room, "We're done Lucas. No more ya hear me. Don't even ask." She pointed a finger at him, "And ya owe me fifty bucks for rough handling." She stretched her hand out towards him, "Whatever. Just stay the hell away from me. I don't need you." He dropped some money into her hand and threw his front door open, "Now get out of here." Once she did, he slammed his door again and dropping onto his sofa resting his head in his hands.

Arleen pulled away from the wall slowly before Lucas had drug Lisa off the bed, unsure of what exactly to think. She gripped her phone a little tighter and left the room, going to the chair in almost the direct center of her house, to ensure no one had to hear her and her inane conversations despite her voice being so quiet she could be speaking against the wall and the other person could have their ear against the wall and still be unable to hear her. She shed a few tears while she spoke to a gay friend of hers, a friend she had made way back in community college up in Northern California. He had moved down to LA for acting. He demanded they meet for lunch and she agreed weakly.

It was a few days later. She had kept clear of Lucas, wounded. She didn't leave apartment, though she generally didn't since most of her case work, the small amount of cases she had, was just reading up on the cases, and not court dates. She left, on a Saturday of all days, unusual for her completely since courts weren't open for her cases as the criminal judges worked Monday to Friday. She met with her friend at a small cafe, him holding her hands as she better explained everything going on, being more clearheaded about it now.

He avoided Arleen like the plague. He actually felt guilty… truly guilty about his almost actions. How could he even think about doing something like that? He felt rather disgusted with himself as he headed towards a small café he occasionally stopped at for coffee and their wonderfully homemade scones. As he got nearer to the café he noticed something familiar and as he grew closer, he tore his sunglasses off and stopped moving and stared. There she was, _his_ Arleen sitting there with another man. Almost instantly he was seething, he had half a mind to charge in there and demand to know what the hell was going on, but instead he shook his head and turned away, muttering to himself about how he screwed this one up royally.

She had to re-portion her cooking to normal, just for her portions. She was more quiet than ever, though ever so often her cooing at Trouble could be heard through the walls.

A week had passed since everything. It felt like more time than that had passed. He kept staring at the wall that separated their apartments from each other, he listen to the few soft sounds coming from her apartment and sighed. It was Saturday night when he finally broke at about one am or so. He laid in bed unable to sleep yet again, when he finally threw off the covers, stood and slipped a t shirt and jeans on and headed out. He found a bouquet of simple and tasteful white daisies with red roses intermixed and stood before her door five minutes or so before he talked himself into knocking.

She opened one eye in her bed, having not been able to sleep either but still trying desperately every single night. She sighed and got up, in her black silk nightgown, pulling a small matching robe on and holding it together loosely. She opened the door, her chain having been ruined by the break in. Her eyes widened when she spotted him but then she tried to look annoyed, but she just looked hurt. She eyed the flowers, but didn't say anything.

He awkwardly scratched the back of his head, "These are… um… for you." He held them out to her, he wasn't very good at this kind of thing and he couldn't look her in the eyes, "I saw them and… well, they made me think of you. Elegant but simple and delicate." He felt like he wasn't making sense at all as he stared at the floor.

She glanced at the flowers and raised her brows. "They made you think of me despite whatever chick that was you had in your apartment the other day?" she asked, unable to keep the anger and hurt out of her voice.

He looked up at her then, "Nothing happened just so you know." He lowered the flowers, "I couldn't go through with it. Maybe I had more to drink than I originally thought that night. But I kicked her out."

She folded her arms and looked down, obviously fighting emotions. She wrinkled up her nose. "Why did you bring her home in the first place?" she asked quietly.

He shrugged, "I don't know…I wasn't thinking." He shook his head slowly, "I screwed up. I know that, I'm trying to make up for it… I would have sooner but I saw you with someone else so I figured I had really done it so I left you alone." He stepped forward, closing the distance between them, his fingers settled beneath her chin, raising it so he could look her in the eyes, "But the thing is, I can't leave you alone. I can't not think about you." He pushed her hair back from her face, "I love you."

She let out a small sound, pushing into his chest, wrapping her arms around him. She pushed her face into his neck, but she didn't return his 'I love you.'

He blinked, at first he was unsure of what to do and then slowly he put his arms around her and held her, his hands moving up and down her back slowly in a comforting manner. This was new to him; he had never felt this deeply about anyone before. He rested his head against hers and closed his eyes a moment.

She finally found her voice to clarify. "That's my gay friend. I needed someone to talk to." she whispered. She tightened her arms around him. "...Are you telling me the truth or do you just want me to forgive you?" she asked quietly, a small waver to her voice, scared for the answer.

He had to laugh. "Gay friend? Really?" He found it a little amusing that she had a gay friend. He pulled back a little and looked at her seriously, "Arleen, I never even told my Mother I loved her…or my ex fiancé." He met her eyes, "What does that tell you?"

She looked up at him, studying his eyes. She got up on her tiptoes and kissed him gently. "I love you, too." she whispered very quietly, nuzzling his jaw with her nose.

He smiled and kissed her back gently, "Now will you take these flowers?" He asked, tickling at her face with them, "And I'm taking you to breakfast in the morning." He smiled, kissing her forehead lovingly, "You matter to me, no more of these people in my life that don't matter."

She smiled a little, taking the flowers and taking his hand. "I was starting to worry you were apathetic." she mumbled, putting the flowers in a vase. She looked over her shoulder at him. "Can you stay here?" she asked gently, wanting to give them as much time together as possible to make up for lost time.

He nodded, "Sure." He quirked a brow," Apathetic? Me?" He chuckled, "Trust me, I have a vast interest in many things, but you're at the top of the list." He slightly lied, she was very important, but the top of his list of interest currently was getting an even score on one particular man whose life was slowly falling apart thanks to him. He smiled at little at this thought and watched her put the flowers in the vase.

She smiled a little to him. "Alright, Lucas. Bedtime." She said, taking his arm and pulling him for the bedroom, shaking her head at the time; nearly 2:00am.

He chuckled, "I'm impulsive… sorry." He wrapped his arms around her and then scooped her up from the floor and carried her towards the direction of her bedroom and sat her gently on the bed, before getting out of his jeans, t shirt and shoes. He glanced down at his boxers and smirked a little at the fact they currently matched before climbing into her bed with a sigh of relief and relaxation, this felt right to him and so strongly that it scared a part of him, making him afraid that he was becoming too soft.


	20. Chapter 20

Arleen and Lucas had gotten even closer since the whole mix-up, and often spent the nights with each other. He was over at her apartment tonight, her curled against his chest, her face in his neck. She woke up to a very quiet alarm, slipping out of the bed with a small smile down at him. She had a court date today, and she had to go to the firm to see if she could get a hold of any more cases, but pickings had been slim recently. She got ready almost completely silently. She made some coffee and set his made perfect mug on the bedside table, kissed his temple, whispered that she loved him, and slipped out of the apartment.

He smiled sleepily and turned over, pretending to go back to sleep. He listened, waiting to hear her door lock before moving. Once it did he was up and getting dressed, grabbing a cup of coffee before heading back to his apartment. Once there he began to work on his part of what needed to be done. Part of him didn't want to go through with it anymore, but his need for revenge was much stronger than his good side it seemed. Once he had hacked into Jarvis and disabled him, Lucas took a long invigorating shower before getting dressed in one of his nicest suits. Smoothing the lapels, he looked himself over with a satisfied smile, "Today is going to be perfect." He turned from his bathroom mirror and headed out, for his destination, the warehouse. The music in his car was easy listening today, it made him feel light and airy, he sang along a little as he grew closer to his destination, hoping things would go according to plan. They had better, he thought to himself.

Pepper was tired, but there was no rest for the wicked as she had recently discovered. She was currently heading into the office to get some papers she had forgotten, that she couldn't believe she had forgotten in the first place. She hated coming into the offices at night, the shadows that fell through the glass walls were slightly disconcerting and creepy besides. But she strutted down towards Tony's office like she owned the place, nothing to be afraid of here… or so she thought. As she rounded the corner she screamed, there on the floor with his head practically smashed to pieces was the night guard Roy. Covering her mouth Pepper took deep even breaths and looked around before shakily making her way towards the doors of Tony's office to call the police. When she reached the doors, the sound of voices alerted her that she was not alone. She listened for a moment; two men were in Tony's office arguing about finding the source of the scream. After a moment or two they decided one of them would look while the other finished getting some files of some sort. Her eyes went wide as she moved from the door and tried to look for a place to hide. She moved into her office and pulled out her Blackberry and called the mansion. It rang and rang…why wasn't someone answering? Why wasn't Jarvis? She stilled seeing a shadow beneath her door and ducked under her desk, doing her best to be quiet. The last thing she remembered was being pulled out from under the desk by her hair before the world went black.

Tony had had a few drinks, upset and lonely in his house when it all had happened. He might not have even been able to take on the men if he was completely sober and wasn't surprised. But after a brutal beating that left a few teeth and a lot of blood on the floor, he was pulled into the back of a van after being bound with duct tape. His son was taken when he had started crying thanks to the commotion. Jarvis, locked behind a firewall, was helpless.

Pepper awoke feeling strange. Her head hurt and she couldn't move very well, slowly her vision became less blurry and she could see a little better. She noticed she was in someplace dark and slightly damp, the musty smell making her cough a little as she struggled a moment against her bonds when suddenly a voice gabbed her attention, " I wouldn't do that if I was you. Struggling creates adrenaline and that will simply speed up the process of the poison I just injected into your blood stream."

She knew that voice, "Donovan… what? Why… are you insane?" She stared at him in disbelief, "Not at all Miss Potts." He stepped closer to her and pushed her hair back from her face all most lovingly, "Now be a good girl and once Stark has paid I'll give you the antidote." He patted the top of her head when he began to hear a kid crying, rolling his eyes; Lucas looked at his bait, "Excuse me. I have idiots to attend to." He turned and disappeared behind some plastic hanging and moved towards the sound of a child wailing. His men turned as they heard him coming, "Well?" He pointed at Stark's heir, a small idea forming in the back of his mind, "Sorry Mr. Donovan." Lucas waved his hand, "Whatever. Just put the kid in the back room and bring Stark to me." He turned and went back to Pepper, amused that she was being so docile, "Looks like you don't have as much fight as I figured you would." He settled on an old chair and waited for his prize to be brought to him.

Tony was unconscious as he was brought in, his face cut up and bruised, one side of his face looked completely smashed in. Blood was leaking around the duct tape over his mouth, and the front of the tape had blood smeared on it from his broken nose. His side was bleeding, and badly, and one man whose hand was covered in blood mumbled a "Sorry, Boss" to Lucas. Tony's hands were bound tightly behind him. He was beginning to twitch here and there, and he would be waking up soon.

Lucas had his goons string Tony up by chains by his wrists. He watched Pepper who was trying to remain calm, he could see the signs of the poison beginning to work, she was much paler and she was beginning to sweat and shake. She had managed to set up a little, watching in horror as Tony was brought in, she bit her lower lip to keep from crying out at his condition and she took deep breaths to keep from getting too upset, "Why are you doing this?" Lucas turned, ignoring Stark for a moment as he strode up towards Pepper, "Because of what he did." He turned and nodded to his goons, "Wake Mr. Stark up." The men picked up buckets of ice water and dumped them on the bleeding broken man as Lucas moved back towards him, "Good morning Tony, welcome." And then he sucker punched him in the gut.

Tony had jerked a bit in his binds as the cold water hit him, his eyes opening a little, though one better than the other. He coughed behind the duct tape at the punch to his gut. He looked up at Donovan, obviously clenching his jaw. He hadn't looked around the room yet, too focused on Lucas

Lucas looked the man before him, wet and almost covered in blood. He moved forward, closer to the man and ripped the duct tape from his mouth, "How are we feeling?" He gripped the front of Tony's hair and pulled his face towards him, "I know what you did. I was going to go to the proper authorities, but then I got to thinking, why? You're a man of power and status, plus SHIELD practically kisses the ground you walk on, so what good would calling the cops do? None what so ever, so I decided I'd take matters into my own hands and make you pay." He let his hair go, giving his head a shove into the wall behind him, "I know you're not a religious man, neither am I. My Mother was though." He took a metal pipe from one of his lackeys and sent it crashing into Tony's ribs, "She told me a story once from the bible about this man named Job and how God let Satan tempt him and he lost everything. Well God isn't going to save you." He brought the pipe down on one of Tony's knees, "Sorry about your wife by the way, terrible loss. If you had just died instead of her we wouldn't be here right now." He brought the pipe back like a baseball bat and swung for the reactor glowing in the middle of Tony's chest. As it connected, Pepper screamed and moved a little too much, instantly she was heaving onto the already dirty floor and cringing in pain. Lucas turned and waved a finger at her, "Tsk, tsk Miss Potts, what did I tell you?"

Tony let out sharp noises of pain with every blow, and he cried out in worry and fear as the pipe knocked against the casing to his reactor. His eyes locked on Pepper and after a few coughs to clear his throat, though it made his lungs burn, he asked in a hoarse voice, his words a little garbled thanks to the state of his face, "Why is she here?"

Arleen came home from a long, very long, day. Between court and the firm and everything it was quite a trying day. She opened her door, smiling at the greeting she received from Trouble as she set her briefcase down. She took out her keys, her cellphone and her wallet, like she always did first thing when she got home. She paused from petting Trouble as she heard a thump somewhere in Lucas's apartment. She furrowed her brows, she hadn't seen his car, but maybe she just wasn't thinking, she hadn't been looking for it when she pulled up. She slid out of her apartment, closing the door quietly to keep Trouble in the apartment. She moved forward quietly on the carpet. "Lucas?" she whispered as she lightly pushed the ajar door open. She wouldn't get a chance to look inside as a bullet whipped through the air out of no where and right into her left shoulder, right under her collarbone. She gasped in pain, falling back against the adjacent wall, gripping sharply at her shoulder, shaking in pain, her eyes closed for a moment as she tried to get a hold of herself mentally. She opened her eyes just in time to see a man holding a silenced gun to knock her hard in the temple.

He caught her before she hit the ground and he and his partner headed off back for the warehouse. The lackey was excited, believing that Arleen had been an enemy of Donovan's, and that he would be promoted for his good work. Arleen was fading in and out of consciousness, her expensive skirt suit jacket covered in blood from the wound they didn't even compress but was thankfully beginning to clot. She was extremely pale, her hair falling around her fair face as her head hung, swaying lightly as the man pulled her by her shot arm. A bruise was darkening on her temple, making her pale skin seem all the more pale. She was trembling like a rabbit caught in a snare that was able to smell a wolf on the prowl. The man held her up a little more to Lucas as if holding up something he should recieve a prize for, before tossing her at Lucas's feet. She trembled and pulled her legs up a little, but not a lot as she was still only half conscious, her hair flared out around her. The man smirked, looking triumphant. "Look what I found sniffing around your apartment, Donovan." he said with pride.

"To torture you and because she helped you kill Obadiah." He tossed the pipe away, tired of it and turned at the sound of noise just in time to see Arleen thrown at his feet, "Get her out of here. Now! You idiot!" He looked at his two goons on either side of Stark, "Have fun boys. I'll be back in a moment, just need to clean up a mess." He turned and then paused and looked back at Tony for a moment and then picked up an old brick and moved back towards him, "I need one more hit and then you can have fun." His men nodded and stepped back.

Pepper watched in horror… she was thinking, trying to save Tony, but her mind was becoming slow and she was beginning to blank out here and there from the pain of whatever was inside her body now. She watched Donovan lift the brick to slam it into Tony's ribs when she broke, "No! Stop! Don't hurt him… he didn't kill Obadiah. I did. I pushed the button, I sent the man to his death. I did it. It was me! Stop!"

Donovan turned and started at the slowly dying woman across the room and frowned, dropping the brick. Silence filled the room for a moment and then he was moving towards her, his shoe connecting with her ribs over and over until he had almost worn himself out, he moved to his knees before her and pulled her now bloodied face up towards his, "Then you will die." He took the vial containing the antidote and threw it down on the ground in front of her before standing and nodding to his men, "Finish him." He turned and left, picking up the discarded brick and heading for towards the men who had Arleen, "Put her with the child." He nodded to the other man who reluctantly took Arleen from his friend and left, putting her into the back room with the still crying kid and shutting the door. He didn't want to go back into the hall like room because he knew what was happening.

"Come here." Donovan motioned to the man, "I need to give you, your reward." The man moved forward, "Thanks Boss. I knew you'd be pleased. I shoulda thought tho, I didn't mean to bring her into the torture room." Lucas smiled, "Oh that's okay. We all make mistakes." Once the man was close enough, Lucas brought the brick out from behind him and smacked it into the side of the man's face, "And we pay for those mistakes." He did this a few more times, warm blood splattering across his face until the man fell down dead. Lucas stood there a moment and listened, hearing the sounds of Tony Stark being beaten was music to his ears as he went to find Arleen.

Pepper cringed watching the men beating at Tony; she worked at her restraints trying to at least get her hands free. She felt herself growing tired, sleepy, but she pressed on glad she wasn't throwing up any more, but she hurt and every movement she made caused the room to spin, even breathing. She gritted her teeth and began to work harder at trying to get the duct tape to stretch and work for her. She felt the skin of her wrists becoming raw and she had to pause as a coughing fit over took her and she spit out a lot of blood. She winced every time Tony was hit, finally after what felt like hours, Pepper was able to pull her wrists free and slowly stood, her blue eyes staying on the men as they kept hitting and kicking at Tony, she carefully reached down and picked up the pipe and moved slowly towards the unsuspecting goons. She was glad her shoes had fallen off at some point because she was barely able to move on her bare feet as she wavered, paused a moment and continued on, the pipe feeling like a huge chuck of lead in her hands as she raised it up and sent it into the back of the head of one of the men.

Tony was barely awake anymore, his ribs broken so many times over he had lost count. He couldn't make noise any more even if he desperately wanted to. Blood was steadily dripping off him onto the ground and he was just doing his best to remain limp so the blows did slightly less damage.

There was a sick cracking sound as the pipe connected to the man's skull, he went down and Pepper moved to hit the second man who had turned. He managed to wrestle the pipe from her and threw her to the ground, "Stupid bitch." He hissed and began to beat her instead of Stark. She watched his motions carefully and when his boot came towards her stomach she grabbed his ankle with her hands and caught him off balance causing him to crash onto of her as she cried out in pain. She groped around the floor for something to use as the man pushed up off her and smacked her face hard. For a moment she saw stars until her hand closed on something sharp, a piece of glass. Using what small amount of strength she had still, and sent the glass into the man's neck, cutting her own hand in the process before he finally flopped over to one side. She tried to get up; her eyes locked on Tony in fear as she called out to him hoarsely, "Tony…" She managed to stand again and limped towards him, stumbling forward into the bloody mess that was his body. She swallowed back more blood and moved to release the chains, dropping him to the floor before she passed out.

Arleen was coming to more, laying on the ground of a small room. A babys crying reached her ears and despite the fact she still felt amazingly weak and pain shot up and down her arm at every movement and her head was throbbing sharply, the bright lights not helping in the least, she pushed herself up onto her knees, cradling her arm and looking around. She couldn't stand, she knew she couldn't manage it, but she managed to find the source of the crying. Every wail cut through her head like a sword, but she was more concerned with taking care of the child than shutting it up. She got herself into a corner, her knees up and the child settled against her chest, her arms protectively around it, and she managed to get it to at least stop screaming, though it was still whimpering and fussing, she just kept cooing at him, brushing his hair back, fighting to keep awake though she still faded off here and there.

Lucas made his way to the back room, a little sad that he was too far away to hear Tony Stark's occasional sounds of pain. He had to give the man some credit he did the brave thing well. He nodded for the man guarding the door to leave, giving him money and a promise never to see him again as he threw open the door and beheld his love. His eyes darkened as he now was able to spot the blood on her arm and the bruise on the side of her forehead. Instantly he was by her side and ripping the sleeve of her suit away to look at the wound, "Damnit." He hissed, his voice angry and deep as he eyed Stark Junior in her arms wondering how he would explain this one exactly.

"Christ, Lucas, what happened to you?" She asked, trying to move to check him but she hissed in pain as he got to her wounded shoulder. She closed her eyes for a few moments to let the swell of pain pass over her before opening her eyes, tears of pain barely held back. "Whats going on?" she asked in a quiet whisper, trembling again, feeling sick.

Lucas grumbled and shook his head, "I didn't mean for this to happen. I had a deal go sour… something I never should have done." The lies came easy, he just opened his mouth and they flowed out easily, "I made a mistake, I had no idea." He kissed her forehead and inspected her arm, "The bullet is still in there. We've got to get it out. Do you trust me? There's no time for the hospital right now, I need you to be able to walk out of here okay." He pulled a pocket knife from his pocket and looked to her.

She eyed the knife, obviously terrified, holding the young child in her arms closer. She was tense and tears finally started to go down her cheeks but she nodded, her eyes closed tightly and her face pushing into the wall she was against, doing her best to keep her crying to just tears, and not sobs.

He gritted his teeth and slowly dug into her arm while whispering how much he loved her and other things to try and offer some comfort. He hadn't meant for Arleen to get involved at all, she wasn't supposed to know this ever took place, but now he had to lie to her and fix something that was his fault. He felt the knife hit something hard and began to shift it outwards until he could see finally see the bullet. With one more shift of the knife he watched it as it fell from her arm in a small spurt of blood to the floor. He then took her ripped sleeve and covered the wound with it and tying so that it applied some pressure, "We need to go. Can you carry him?" He asked looking at her as he helped her stand, "Never mind, give me the kid. I don't want your arm damaged anymore. Let's get out of here." He put his arm around Arleen to help support her and took Edward in his other arm and led them out of the warehouse through the back and to his car. He looked around a moment before getting in behind the wheel and peeling out, heading for the hospital to get Arleen treated, "It's going to be okay. Just hold on, baby." He drove with one hand while he held her against him and letting her hold Stark's brat.

She curled up against his side, managing to keep from even making a sound of pain when he had been digging the bullet out. "Lucas, we can't go to the hospital." she whispered, regretting it but knowing they couldn't go. Not with her having a bullet wound and him covered in blood, with a child that wasn't theirs. Someone would get arrested, and it would probably be Lucas.

The car screeched to a halt, "What do you mean we can't go to the hospital?" He looked at her sharply, "You need to get that wound looked at Arleen." He had no idea what she was getting at as he began to drive again, trying to stay within the speed limit as much as possible.

"Lucas." she chided for slamming on the breaks, holding Edward closer to her chest not wanting him to get hurt. She sighed. "We can't go. Lucas, you're covered in blood. And they'll know this is a bullet wound. They'll arrest you if not me as well." She said, shaking her head, but looking more firm. "Now, I want to know what happened. And who this baby is."

He sighed gripping the wheel tightly in frustration. She was right, he swore under his breath and slowed down and changed directions when he had the chance, "No idea, I didn't even know there was a kid there." He looked at her, "And I thought I was meeting some clients, I talked to a man briefly on the phone that gave me an address. I went to it and they were doing some weird shit…" He looked at the kid, "Sorry. Weird crap. I tried to stop them and when one of their goons brought you in I flipped." He was breathing hard, trying to act like he was freaking out, "I don't know who these men were. I have no clue how they found me… I still don't even know what they wanted. Maybe they wanted to kill me I don't know. I have a lot of enemies in this world…" He headed for his boat, they could escape that way easily.

The second Jarvis was free he scrambled to get Happy en route to Tonys location, and to get Tony's doctor, Timothy Murphy, on his way to the house. Tony was trying to see out of blood covered eyes where the vial had gotten to, his breathing hard and labored. He was only able to crawl thanks to all the times Obadiah had broken his bones when he was a child. He couldn't move far, he was able to curl his fingers around the vial. He laid there, panting and quietly soaking in the half victory. He shifted Pepper so he could get the antidote into her.

While he was managing he could hear Happy tearing into the building, taking down any man who dared cross his path between him and his wife, and his boss. He took just one hit to the shoulder, but he barely felt it. Lucas was a lucky son of a bitch that Happy took a different road to the warehouse, and thus didn't pass his car. Happy finally got to them and Tony told him to get his son, worried that his sudden silence of crying had meant he was hurt badly. Harold knew he didn't have time to look for Edward, he _had_ to get Pepper and Tony back to the Mansion. So, Harold pushed his thumb hard into several of Tonys ribs, doing it just right and into a nerve cluster. Along with all the pain from his broken ribs, Tony slipped out on consciousness and Harold got them to the car. He did a quick sweep of the place, literally running through the warehouse and kicking open any door he came across, but he search left him empty, so he forced himself to just accept whatever fate Tony would have for him at learning that Happy didn't spend as much time as Tony surely would have wanted him to looking. He got them home in record time, the doctor already there and waiting for them. He focused on his wife while Timothy and Jarvis focused on Tony.

Pepper felt heavy, her entire body felt oddly weightless. A small sound left her dry lips as she looked around slowly and let her eyes adjust. She coughed and cringed a little at the pressure it caused on her midsection and slowly began to recognize her surroundings. She was in one of the guest rooms of Stark Mansion, she was also hooked up to an IV and a few monitors. She also felt like she was wearing a strange sort of corset. Pulling the covers down a little she sat up and pulled the white shirt someone had placed on her up to examine her body. She saw her ribs had been wrapped up good and that bruises were peeking out just below her breasts, she saw too that her hand was wrapped. Slowly she moved to the edge of the bed and tried to stand only to plop back down onto the bed with a groan, "Hello?" She called out, "Jarvis? Anyone?" Maybe she was dreaming… or dead. Nah, not dead, just damn good drugs.

"Mrs. Hogan, you should not be moving. Please remain there, one of us will be with you shortly." he said, his voice a bit strained as down the hall they were fighting with Tony. The angry voices of the men floated through the air, Tony snarling and shouting, and Harolds deep voice telling him to get the hell back in the bed.

Pepper sighed and took her time standing again, "Right." She muttered and began to limp towards the door pulling the IV tower with her as she moved, she had bruises on her legs as well, and her right ankle was wrapped… she couldn't remember spraining it, but maybe she did. She wasn't exactly remembering much right now. She moved out into the hall and towards the voices, almost tripping over her own feet as she did so and slammed into the wall with a bit of a curse, "Damnit." She glared towards the scene before her and shook her head, "What's going on?" She eyed Tony and moved in closer, hugging the wall, "Anthony Stark. Enough." Her voice was not as strong as it normally was in fact it came out cracked and hoarse as she tried to sound commanding.

Everyone in the room met her with different words 'Peps' 'Ginny' 'Mrs. Hogan' 'Ginger'. Tony sounded surprised, Jarvis and Timothy sounded chiding, and both added she should absolutely not be out of the bed, and Harold went to her, wrapping his arms around her very carefully, keeping her up. Tony was panting, one hand on the wall, his arm bleeding a little where he ripped the iv out of his arm. "Your fucking husband left my son at that god forsaken warehouse." snarled Tony, trying to complete anger but the pure despair and agony that colored his words was impossible to miss. Jarvis tried to settle Tony back in the bed with his head a bit bowed and Timothy fell silent. All Tony could focus on was that he had nothing left. Harold had Pepper. Tony was completely alone.

"What?" She looked at Harold in disbelief and then to Tony as Jarvis tried to settle him, "Maybe he wasn't there Tony… I'm sure Harold looked everywhere." She looked at her husband with hopeful and tired eyes, "This is terrible, poor Edward." She leaned against Harold, "Have the police been notified?" She looked at the faces around her feeling out of place for some reason, a feeling she's never had before until now in a world filled with men.

"He was there. He was fucking there. I heard him. I know you had to have heard him, too. I know he was." his voice had gone from strong to a trailed whisper, feeling lightheaded and his emotions were hitting him in the chest like a hammer. Tim and Jarvis got Tony into the bed and Tim got to work fixing what Tony had just ruined as he ordered over his shoulder for Harold to get Pepper back to the room.

Harold got her out into the hallway again before he explained in a quiet, regret filled voice. "I did it a quick sweep, but I was too worried about you. About Tony. He wasn't crying... No sound. If he was still there, he was probably dead." He wished it had been different, but there was no way it could have been. He carefully got her settled in bed again, completely silent. And while Harold being completely silent wasn't weird, the manner in which he was silent was very weird. It was a silence of hurt, not of comfort.

She looked at Harold as he explained to her and broke down, falling against him and crying, "What are we going to do? This will kill him Harold…" She dried her eyes and tried to stand up straight, "First his wife and now his son…God help us all." She muttered and slowly with his help made her way back to her room and bed, "Have you found any sign or trace of Donovan? He was responsible for this madness." She felt so tired and so unlike herself as she reluctantly settled back into the pillows, "Could you get me some water? My throat is so dry."

He frowned as she cried, and was about to get her water when it popped up on her nightstand thanks to a small circle of the nightstand that shifted away and was replaced with the same shape of nightstand holding a glass of iced water. He sat down near her knees on the bed. "No trace yet, Pepper." he whispered. He had eased up after their small spat when Lucy had died and had just gone back to completely loving husband.

She nodded sadly, "Don't tell him yet. Let me break it to him, it'll be easier if I do it." She commented picked up the glass of water, "Thank you Jarvis." She glanced up briefly before taking a few drinks of it, careful not to drink too much before sitting it back down, "I feel so strange… and I don't remember everything that happened." She rested a hand on her forehead for a moment and sighed heavily.

"Sweetheart, I think that's better." He admitted, brushing her hair back tenderly, kissing her temple. "Just relax and rest up. You took a beating." he whispered, the fear of losing her in his voice and eyes.

He was being far too good about this and she noted the struggle in his eyes that he didn't want to lose her, "I know." She said simply and squeezed his hand a moment before fully settling back. She felt heavy and drugged again, her eyes wanting to close she felt herself pull under and drift into a sudden deep sleep for a little while.

Tim ended up having to keep Tony pretty well drugged, to keep him from escaping. When he wasn't bedridden he shuffled to Peppers room, trying to keep his walls and his mask up, but it was obvious he was teetering on the edge, but he wasn't allowed out too much. It took almost three weeks before he finally broke down completely. He had been transferred to the couch for a change of view and he had been skipping through the channels when he ran onto a childrens show that he and Lucy had agreed was a good mix of entertainment and learning and not too cheesy. He just sat there sobbing into his hands.

Pepper was up and moving around a little better now. Everyone else was out for the moment as she wandered out heading for the kitchen to get a snack when she heard someone crying. Quirking a brow she slowly made her way down the few stairs and sighed at seeing Tony breaking apart right before her eyes. She felt rooted in place as she fought her own emotions before moving forward and almost losing her balance. She shuffled for the back of the sofa and gripped it hard as she inched herself around it and settled down next to him, "Hey." She said softly looking at him.

Even at his breaking point he was completely aware of everything about her. He wrapped his arms around her, far more gentle than he had ever been before, doing his best to not put any weight on her, his face going to her shoulder but only ghosting against it to not put too much weight on her

Her arms went around him as she took the tv control and turned it off making a note to get that channel blocked for right now, "I'm sorry." She whispered not knowing what else to say as she tried to hold him, her heart breaking apart as she felt her own tears slowly sliding down her cheeks.

Tony settled against her, still crying quietly, not knowing what else to do besides cry and fight to not give up.

She felt sleepy again; something she felt quite often lately, Tim had explained it was due to the poison that wrecked havoc on her system, the antidote had helped, but resting and lots of fluids would help even more and it seemed her body had listened to the rest part at least. She rested her head against his as she realized she was crying and tried to wipe the wetness from her cheeks.

Tony seemed to realize that Pepper was crying as well and he forced himself to calm down, pulling from her shoulder and cupping her jaw. "Peps, calm down." he whispered, his voice thick.

She sniffled a little as she closed her eyes a moment and the wiped the moisture from just below her eyes, "I'm okay." She tried to reassure him, but it killed a part of her to see him like this and the fact she couldn't instantly fix it. She took a deep breath and looked at him, studying his tired and worn features.

He sighed and rested his forehead on hers. "I'm sorry." he whispered, apologizing for breaking down.

"There's nothing to be sorry for Tony." She wasn't sure about the sudden closeness between them, it seemed too intimate to her, "This wasn't your fault, none of it was." She took his hand in hers and held it in comforting manner while pulling her face back from his a little.

"Yes it is. Lucas blamed me for Obadiahs death, he was trying to get at me." he whispered, holding his head in his free hand.

"You did what you had to do, we both did." She became very serious, "Donovan is no better than his so called former mentor." She smoothed his hair back, "I certainly don't blame you." She said softly and she truly didn't.

"You should." he whispered, pushing his hair back, but he sighed. "Alright. I'll _try_ to stop blaming myself. Promise."

She smiled a little at his plea that he'd try, "You can't keep beating yourself up over things that aren't your fault. It's not healthy." She felt an odd impulse and suddenly closed the gap between them and hugged him tightly, "It's going to be okay, you'll get through this. I promise." She closed her eyes and sat there a moment with her arms comfortingly around him.

He wrapped his arms around her in return, trying to keep from getting annoyed at the cast on his arm or around both their chests.

She wasn't sure how long they stayed like this, but Pepper felt herself slack a little and grow far too comfortable in his arms. Instantly, but slowly she pulled away and tried to hide a small yawn, "Do you need anything?" She asked, trying to make things feel as normal as possible.

"Yeah. For you to go to rest." he whispered, kissing her temple. He didn't have anyone else to love or be close to anymore. Not with both Edward and Lucy gone, so he was throwing all his affection on her.

She smiled softly, "What are you going to do?" She looked at him, not really wanting to leave him alone right now.

He shrugged. "Sleep, watch a movie, talk to Jarvis." he offered quietly.

She bit her lower lip, "I don't want you to be by yourself… I know Jarvis is always here, but…" She trailed off and looked around a moment as though she was searching for the rest of her sentence, "I'll try." She said suddenly and quietly and stood.

Tony called for Jarvis and nodded at Pepper. Jarvis was at her side instantly, one arm carefully around her waist, supporting her.

Pepper was settled thanks to Jarvis, to whom she expressed much gratitude to before she turned over and fell asleep again. Her dreams were flashes of that night, various memories pieced together like a miss matched movie reel. She shot up suddenly, her lips open in a small scream as she tried to regulate her heartbeat, her hands pushing her hair back shakily.

Jarvis was the only one who was able to respond quick enough to be there the second she woke up, his cool hands on her arms, his calm voice in her ear telling her she's alright, while at the same time phoning Harold, who ended up being on his way already.

She took deep breaths and closed her eyes a moment hugging her own body as she tried to banish the images from her mind of all that went on. She opened her eyes to see Jarvis there attending to her and felt a little better, "Bad dream." She muttered.

"You're alright, Mrs. Hogan." he promised quietly, pushing her hair back and trying to calm her down as he had seen Tony and Harold do.

She sat back and felt a little better, "I think I'm okay now. Thank you Jarvis." She reached for the glass of water beside the bed and took a few long drinks which also helped.

"Your husband is on his way, Mrs. Hogan." whispered Jarvis to calm her more, hopefully.

She nodded, "Okay." She figured Jarvis was going to stay there until Harold arrived and she settled back making sure she was calm and collected before he would come in through the door, no need to alarm him further.

Harold was there just a few minutes later and Jarvis disappeared easily. Harold moved over to Pepper, looking her over as if to make sure she was okay, sitting down near her knees like he often did, worry on his face.

She offered a smile, but it soon faded from her lips at the expression on his face, she sat up a little straighter and sighed, "I'm fine, Jarvis overreacted. I just had a bad dream that's all." She assured him, but she noted the worry lining his face and frowned.

He gave her a look, but accepted her words. He took her hand, running his thumb over her knuckles. "I'm going to be gone for a while, so I ain't going to be around to see you like this." he whispered, a sadness in his voice and eyes.

"What… why…where are you going?" She needed him here, she knew seeing her like this was hard for him, but she needed him, "Harold please." She hoped this wasn't because of what she thought it was.

"I have to find Edward. S'my fault he ain't here. I gotta find him." he explained quietly, frowning at her.

Worry and sadness crossed her face as she nodded slowly… she knew he had to do this, she knew this man before her couldn't live with himself if he didn't try, "I wish you wouldn't… but I know you have to. You're a good man Harold." She reached out and caressed his face gently, "Be safe and good luck." She was crying, her tears were of loss and the fact she suddenly felt very alone in the world, "I will miss you." She said earnestly, because she honestly would.

He pushed into her hand, his eyes closed tightly. "I know. I will miss you every moment I am away from you." He whispered, placing his hand over hers on his cheek as if it was his last link to life.

She closed her eyes for a moment as well, trying to fight the tears that slowly rolled down her cheeks, "I hope you find him… I really do." It would help Tony; it would make all the difference in the world, it would give the man something to live for again.

"I don't know how long I'll be gone." he whispered, holding her hand just a little tighter. It was his way of saying he wouldn't rest until he had found Edward.

She leaned up, the action hurting her ribs a little, but she managed as she softly kissed him and sat back, "I know. Try to keep in touch as much as you can." She sounded very tired all of the sudden, "But his disappearance isn't your fault Hap. So please don't beat yourself up over it, I know you have to do what you believe is right, but if you can't…" Her voice cracked and she took a deep breath, "If you can't find him…" She couldn't finish the sentence as she felt more tears fall.

"Ginger." he whispered, sighing at her, brushing her tears away, frowning at her. "I'll find him, some how." he mumbled, admitting that he would settle for just finding his body. But he would only settle for that because he would hope it would present clues for him to get revenge.

She nodded, hoping and believing that he would, that he could, "Good luck." She smiled hopefully and gave his arm a squeeze, "Are you going to tell him?" She asked suddenly, he would know to whom she was referring.

"No. Don't want to give him any false hopes, in case I don't come back." he whispered, looking upset with himself. He didn't want this to be good bye, but he couldn't come back empty handed. He had never come back from a job without completing it

"He'll wonder where you are… he's not stupid Harold. He'll figure it out." But she knew he was right, and each day that passed without a promising word or return would only further dampen the man's spirits, "But you're right. What should your cover story be then? What can he be told?" She hoped he had this figured out.

"Mafia business back in New York." he said with a shrug.

"I suppose that works. Very cryptic." She nodded and settled back onto the pillows, her ribs still a little sore and the muscles a bit weak, "When are you leaving?" She had a feeling she already knew the answer.

"Now." he whispered with a small frown. He kissed her one last time before he got up. "I love you." he whispered seriously, slipping away from her.


	21. Chapter 21

She nestled against him, pushing her nose into his neck. "I'm just glad you're safe, but what are we going to do with this baby? We should turn him... no, crap." she bit her bottom lip thinking hard. She paused, glancing at the road signs. "Where are we going?" she asked softly.

"We'll just have to keep him." He looked at her, "I'm headed for the boat. I've done it before to Hawaii so I know it'll make it there." He kept well within the speed limit now not wanting to attract any sort of attention and was glad his windows were tinted, "I don't want these men to find me or you." He looked at the kid in her arms and reached over mussing his hair, "Or this little guy." He noted they were almost to the harbor.

"Lucas, no." She said, looking out the passenger window like she was trapped. "I can't leave Trouble." it was the most upset she had sounded the entire night, through it all. She looked back at him, fighting to keep herself strong. "Lucas... Lucas, please..." she completely begged.

He blinked and looked at her, "Are you serious…" He felt annoyance creeping up and flexed his hands on the steering wheel, "You want to go back for your cat?" He closed his eyes so he could roll them without her seeing and made a sudden u turn and headed for their apartment building, "I can't believe I'm going back for a cat." He shook his head and sighed very heavily.

"I hand raised him, Lucas. He's been in my life for years. He's one of the most important things to me." She explained quietly, knowing she had annoyed him and feeling shame for it, but she couldn't leave her cat.

He sighed and held his tongue while he drove. Once they were there he stripped out of his shirt and suit jacket and looked at her, "I'll be right back, stay here." He went to his trunk and pulled out a fresh shirt and put it on before heading to the elevator trying to act normal. He was glad it was the middle of the night still as he stepped out into the hallway and towards their apartments. He eyed his open door and closed it carefully before using the key she had given him a while ago to get into her apartment, "Trouble? Come here you stupid cat." He muttered, he saw the feline and snatched him up quickly, "You're going for a long ride buddy and I'm pretty sure you're not going to like it." He carried the cat out and to the elevator, noting the look of annoyance on the cat's face, "Me too buster, me too." He approached the car and slide back in placing the cat on her lap, "Anything else?" He looked at her before pulling out.

Arleen wrapped an arm around her Trouble, kissing him right behind his ear and settling him down. He obviously was unhappy she was hurt, pushing his nose against her arm and making small meows at her. Edward was completely asleep against Arleen. She, however, was on her Blackberry, making a few calls to smooth out as much as she possibly could, and getting their stuff packed away. Hers by way of her parents, his by way of her cousins cleaning crew, who cleaned up many apartments in Los Angeles and Malibu. She promised she'd let her parents know where she was once she knew. She got out of her job and told them she was going on vacation, and told what few friends she had as well, to avoid going on the missing persons list and having someone desperately trying to find her, and managing to set up the process to make it legal for them to have Edward. Though during that phone call she had mentioned to whoever she was talking to that she knew it was easier when the couple seeking adoption was married, but that it just wasn't the case right now. She leaned into Lucas unconsciously during that call. Her mind moved as fast as his did, though she had every law and loophole memorized.

He quirked a brow at her comment about marriage and kept driving, noting how the idea nagged at him as he pulled into the harbor and turned the car off. He looked at her as they sat there for a moment, "Ready?" He felt nervous and vulnerable… something he hadn't felt before that he could remember that is.

"As ready as I can be." she admitted with a small sigh. She tried to juggle the child and the cat but as soon as she tried to shift the weight of Edward into just her left arm she hissed and tensed a little. She sighed. "You should take him." she whispered, obviously angry at herself. She called up a tow truck friend of hers, and got him to agree to claim he had found Donovan's car by the railroad tracks to throw them off their trail. She asked him if he needed help with anything after she got Trouble and Edward down in the cabin. She was trying to stall from stitching up her wound.

He nodded and took the kid, once they were on the boat; he got it ready to cast off and looked at her, "Can you bring up the first aid kit?" He looked at her as he began to back the boat out slowly and carefully, "We need to take care of that wound properly. Also some fishing line and there should be a sewing kit somewhere down there too." He didn't like the idea of sewing her up himself, but it had to be done…he hoped he could do it.

She gave him a very annoyed look, but gave in almost instantly, moving off to get what he told her to get. She freed her shoulder from her dress shirt and jacket for him, looking dejected but submissive, holding out the needle with the sharp edge between her fingers to ensure he wouldn't poke himself with it.

"Trust me, I don't want to do this, but it needs to be done." He located a lighter and began to handed it to her, "Keep the flame on the point while I clean the wound okay." He cleaned the wound carefully and then used some sort of a mouth pain reliever to try and numb the area around the wound a little, "Do you want a drink of some sort? I think I might have some vodka or rum." He asked her before he would start, anything to try to make this as easy as he could on her.

"That'll thin my blood. I'll just grit my teeth." she said, shaking her head at him as she kept the flame on the tip, and tried to keep her shoulder relaxed.

He nodded, "Alright then." He threaded the needle and took a deep breath and began, a part of him was disgusted by watching himself stitch the skin slowly, poking the needle in and pulling the line before repeating. He paused a moment, closed his eyes and then opened them and continued, "Almost done, just hang in there okay." One more and he was tying it up and putting a bandage over it carefully before handing her an ice pack for her head after twisting it to activate it, "Do you prefer Tylenol, Ibuprofen?"

She kept her head very well, swallowing hard a few times and looking up during most of it, one hand gripping at his knee while she kept the other arm as slack as possible. "Tylenol is more for fever... ibuprofen is for inflammation and would work better in this situation." she whispered. It was obvious she was in pain by the strained, tight voice replacing her normal calm and quiet one.

He nodded and handed her some ibuprofen and closed the kit up and sat back a little looking at her in the moonlight before going back to the wheel and getting ready to steer the boat towards the proper direction, "Why don't you go down and get some rest?" He was concerned about her and hoped that she'd be okay for a while.

She took the ibuprofen, knowing it wouldn't do too much for her pain, which was incredible. She fixed her shirt and walked over to him, kissing his neck and pushing her nose in the space behind his ear for just a moment before pulling away, going down into the cabin. However there'd be no rest for her as Edward was crying, hungry. She could tell by the tone of his cries. She appeared again, Edward crying against her wounded shoulder, sending sharp jolts of pain down her arm, but she just let him be. "Lucas, what do you have to eat on this boat?" she asked, hoping if he had anything she could mash it up.

He cringed momentarily at the sound of the kid crying and looked at her his face instantly becoming unreadable, "Um…hm." He thought a moment, "There might be some bananas down in the small kitchen, not sure if they're still good or not. Also there should be some tuna, milk, OJ and… not sure what else." He paused the boat for a moment and threw the anchor down and went to look, "Though I have no idea what is still good." He felt in a sense ashamed that he didn't keep the boat better stocked.

She laughed a little. "You have tuna on a boat?" she sobered though and followed after him, hoping the bananas were still good, and the milk, as she didn't trust tuna with the young child, and she knew Trouble would need to eat as well.

"Shush." He gave her a slight embarrassed look and poked around in the galley for a moment or two and produced a couple of bananas, "You're in luck. A few of them are still good." He sat them on the counter and gestured around, "Feel free to make yourself at home and use whatever." He headed for the door and went back up on the deck returning to driving the boat towards their destination.

She mashed up one, and managed to get Edward to eat. She found the tuna and put half of it on a plate for Trouble. She ate the rest a bit begrudgingly, knowing that she needed something in her stomach or else she risked the Motrin hurting her. She was settled on a couch, the baby against her chest, in her arms, her cat behind her knees, her suit jacket their only warmth but she didn't seem too bothered. She was asleep quickly, quicker than she imagined she would be, unaware she was as tired as she was.

He was feeling a little tired as well, but he knew he had to keep driving, he figured within two to three days if he kept the boat going all day and night they'd reach the Hawaiian islands. He managed to get himself some coffee at one point and checked on Arleen, smiling at the picture that was created on the small sofa before heading back up to keep steering as dawn began to slowly lighten the sky.

Arleen woke up in incredible pain, and with Edward crying. She had a bit of a hard time moving him around. She sacrificed her dress shirt sleeve to a makeshift diaper and got him settled down again before wandering up on deck and blinking at Lucas. "Have you been up this whole time?" she asked quietly, stealing his coffee to have a small sip. Her wounded arm was tucked against her and she tried to make it look natural but it was obvious she was keeping it held oddly.

He nodded slowly and eyed the way she was holding her arm, "Take some more pills please." He looked at her sternly and finished off his coffee, "Everything okay down there?"

"It's fine. I still have to wait 2 more hours." she whispered, reciting the small amount of medical knowledge she could remember from one of her long time friends.

He frowned a little, "Uh huh, well keep track then." He blinked as his stomach growled loudly and then ignored it, "I'd estimate we've got a day and a half or so to travel still." He looked at her, worried, "Are you sure you're okay with this?" He didn't want to make her do something she didn't want to do.

"We were back at the apartment complex. I easily could have gotten out and gone home." She whispered, folding her arms to hide her trying to support her arm to make it stop hurting. "You need to go to bed, though. I can take over." she said, looking more firm on that.

He nodded at her reply and focused back on the ocean before them, "Are you sure, with your arm and all?" He looked at her questioningly, "I don't want you to injure it further." He wasn't arguing the fact he needed at least a couple of hours.

"I'll have to at some point any way, Lucas. I'll be fine. We'll manage." she reassured him gently, kissing his jaw lightly. "Go sleep."

"Okay, but if it gets to be too much for your arm then don't hesitate to wake me up." He'd sleep on alert anyways due to the circumstances, "I love you." He whispered and kissed her gently before heading below deck to curl up where she had slept, the cushions of the sofa still holding her scent.

Arleen knew they had to head west, so she got the compass on the dot of west and tied the wheel with fishing line to keep it there. She settled down in a chair to watch and make sure they wouldn't run into anything. She went as long as she could before taking the pain medication, worried about not being able to eat anything with them. She ended up drinking a few cups of coffee to try and offset any possible harm.

He rested for a couple of hours, but that's all he could handle. He didn't fully sleep either and any little noise or change in the movement of the boat and his eyes were open. He made a new batch of coffee pouring himself a very full mug and wandered back up, "Hows it going up here?"

"Easy." she said, gesturing at the still tied wheel. She knew they'd have to switch to northwest, but it would be quite a bit more of travel before they would need to. She frowned at him. "You sure you got enough sleep?"

He nodded, lying, "Yeah. I'm good to go, how's your arm?" He looked at her, and then eyed the wheel and gave an impressed look, "Never thought of that." He scratched his head a moment and took a long drink of coffee before looking around slowly, "We've made some good progress. Now it' your turn to get some more rest and check on the kid."

"Lucas, I've only been awake..." she glanced at the clock. "not even 6 hours. You should sleep more, not me." she said, frowning at him.

"True, but I'm not nursing an injury." He looked at her and then motioned towards the hull, "I can carry you and I will." He warned, watching her.

She folded her arms again. "Lucas, I can ta-" Edward started crying and she huffed at Lucas. She gave him a look that said he was lucky for now but they would talk later before walking off, her heels clicking on the deck.

They were soon in Hawaii, on the island of Oahu. Arleen had been studying maps the entire time, and had found them a good low key area to go. Haleiwa, a small beach front down on the other side from Honolulu. Once she knew where they were going she was setting up everything so they could segway right into living there, with some assistance from her parents and friends. She got them settled in a small 2 bedroom condo and was impressed to find some of their things already there by the time they were there. Trouble was obviously very happy to be back on solid ground. Arleen poked around in the boxes that were already there, and told Lucas what boxes had his things in them

He never was one for unpacking. It took him six months to unpack what used to be his apartment, but he put himself into it and got going on getting his stuff put up properly. The condo was beginning to look like home with a mixture of his and hers. Oddly most of their stuff fit together, it weirded him out a little bit but he kept that to himself. The next few days he worked on securing himself a job with Hammer, and would be starting that next Monday, "Looks like we both have friends in high places," He commented hanging the phone up, "I just got hired by the current biggest supplier of weapon tech." He smiled, pleased with himself.

She smiled a little at him. "Good." she praised, happy for him. She had been unpacking his things once she realized he wouldn't be doing more than a few boxes of it. She had to corner him about something, though. She had been testy with the level of pain she was in, so she looked a tad confrontational as she asked, "What is the name of that little boy, do you know? And if not, what should we call him?"

He was trying to help, but he of course wasn't doing a very good job at it and after a while he gave up. Her question made him almost spit out the drink of water he had just taken from the glass he had gotten before calling up the one and only Justin Hammer. Recovering quickly, Lucas managed a few coughs and the red eyes of swallowing wrong, "Gah. Hate when that happens, what was your question again, love?"

"What are we to call that child we've been taking care of for almost a week?" she asked again, pursing her lips.

He didn't hesitate at all, "I've always had a soft spot for the name Obadiah. It's a good strong name." He nodded, "He's young enough that it won't matter if he's called something else than whatever his birth name was."

She nodded after a few moments of mulling over the name, cradling her arm a bit. "That sounds fine. I'll get to work on fixing that." She promised.

He felt extremely pleased at the legacy he had just bestowed his former mentor and the pain it would cause his rival should he ever find out. A part of Lucas wanted him to very much, but he knew it wasn't wise and he would refrain from any sort of taunting directed at the man in any way. He was astounded by the woman before him as she worked her own breed of magic to give them all virtually new lives to live.

She worked well at getting them hidden. The papers came for the baby, bearing the name Obadiah Donovan. Arleen had settled them in the island with 75% of the entire population of Hawaii. Donovan wasn't a very rare name, and she in fact found a few other Donovans in Hawaii, so she didn't bother trying to alter that. Within a month they were well settled and her arm wasn't hurting her quite so much and the bruising on her temple was almost completely gone.


	22. Chapter 22

The first few weeks it was difficult. She tried to go home, but ended up back in the Stark Mansion due to the loneliness. She was healed for the most part, but she got tired easily and slept a lot more than she used to, but she didn't shy away from her usual work load. She was doing some work in the living room on her laptop, it was two am or so and the nightmares had woken her again, unable to go back to sleep she decided to work. She had Jarvis keep the lights a low level while she typed away, drinking a glass of orange juice while she worked on some proposals that need to be done by Friday.

Tony almost always had a hard time sleeping. When she wasn't already up he could be heard roaming the halls. Once he was able to go out in the armor he was out often, though Jarvis finally had to restrict him from the suit when he realized he was purposefully being reckless. A door somewhere in the house opened and closed, along with the limping steps on the carpet of Tony. Harold hadn't gotten in contact with Pepper yet, and Tony hadn't asked any questions. Tony appeared in the living room, in just a pair of jeans. His ruined sides and jaw looking more ghastly in the low light now that all his bandages were off. He paused when he spotted Pepper up, but he said nothing, escaping into the kitchen. He returned with two cartons from the Chinese they had ordered that night, setting hers in front of her as he silently eased himself next to her, poking at his chow mien with a fork.

"You should be in bed." She said without looking up from her laptop screen, which she closed once her stomach growled at the scent of leftover Chinese. Setting her laptop aside she graciously picked up her carton and began to work at her sesame chicken, breaking apart a rather large piece and plopping half of it into her mouth, "Thank you." She spoke after swallowing and settled back more into the couch.

"You should be in bed, too." he retorted, smiling a little to her. He pushed his shoulder against hers after she thanked him. His legs were stretched out, crossed at the ankle.

She said nothing to that and continued eating, noting how close they were. After a moment she stood and turned, "I need some more to drink, want anything?" She was dressed down, sweat pants and an old college t shirt.

"Coke or something." he said with a nod in thanks.

She nodded and came back with a coke and some more Orange Juice for herself; she was trying to stay more on the healthy side of things when she could to keep her body's defenses up. She settled back down on the sofa and sighed a little, "So…um… you'll be happy to know you have no meetings this week." She was creating random conversation, anything to ease that tension between them.

He sighed to himself. "Good news." he responded, though his heart wasn't really in it.

She made a slight face and bit her lower lip a moment, "How are you holding up?" She asked, curiously and concerned as well.

He gave her a dull look, wanting to say something sharp, but he knew she was trying. "Better." he whispered, stuffing a forkful of noodles into his mouth.

She wanted to tell him what Harold was really doing, but she knew better, she knew she couldn't. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, thinking and silent for the moment. She didn't know what to say or what to do… she hated feeling so lost. She turned her head and looked at him, watching him eat. He looked tired, rough and not himself and she hated the fact she could just snap her fingers and fix everything. With a look of frustration she rested her forehead against her knees and sighed closing her eyes.

He didn't make a sound but his arms were suddenly around her, plucking her off the sofa and onto his lap, holding her against his chest and completely silent.

She instinctively curled against him, her head resting on his shoulder and her arms folding between them. She breathed his scent in deeply and sighed heavily in a shaky manner. There was comfort in this, it somehow assured her she wasn't alone and neither was he. For once her mind didn't scream for her to run away, maybe because she was too tired to do so or maybe her mind was all out of fight.

He sat there playing with the ends of her hair for a while, still silent and trying to keep from pushing it too far, trying to keep her from running like a scared rabbit.

Her body relaxed slowly, her weight almost being fully supported by him now as she opened her eyes and watched his chest rise and fall with each breath he took. Slowly she raised her hand and placed it over the faint glow of the reactor, the steady hum comforting. She let out a sigh as she grew even more relaxed, "Tony…" She closed her eyes a little feeling sleepy, "I don't want to be alone." Her voice came out small.

"You're not, Peps. I'd _never_ leave you." he promised in a whisper.

The assurance in his words was striking; it made her feel like everything was going to be okay and that nothing bad would ever happen again. She nuzzled into his neck, "I know." She said quietly feeling safe and secure in his arms.


	23. Chapter 23

His job was better than any job he had ever done and the pay was excellent. He would come home each evening with a pleasant smile on his face, kiss the love of his life and their adopted son. It felt so real that the life he led before this seemed like a strange dream to him now. He wasn't very attentive of the child, a part of him hated the little loud being that was truthfully the heir of someone else. But he did his best, for Arleen.

Arleen was happy, very happy, and she was able to settle right down with it all. She hadn't had a problem with cuffing off her old life more or less for Lucas. She kept the house clean and Obadiah quiet and out of the way most of the time. She settled in the lifestyle easily and time flew by. She did her best to protect and take care of what she now saw as her family, in any way possible. She began making friends in the neighborhood and in the general area. Finding other moms in the area. She smoothed over the story of how they got Obadiah, saying he was theirs to simplify things. He looked like he easily could be. Almost 3 years passed before she even had time to blink it felt. She had Obadiah napping before dinner and she was waiting for the front door to open, keeping an ear out for it as she worked on dinner.

Work had gone well as it had been, but today had been a long one and Lucas was tired. He wanted to eat, relax and maybe hit the sack early. Some of the boys at work had wanted to go out for drinks being that it was Friday night and the end of the work week, but he had declined telling them to knock a few back for him. His keys jingled in the door as he walked into their condo a little surprised not to see a kid running towards him… for some reason Obadiah had a lot of love for his adoptive father, which slightly irked Lucas. He didn't want much to do with the child, especially now that he was growing and was beginning to resemble his real father more, "I'm home…" He dropped his keys into the small bowl by the door and began working on his tie wanting it off.

Arleen was there a bit too quickly. She often greeted him, but it was a very sudden appearance and she greeted him with his name, not a kiss. She replaced his hands at working to get his tie off, loosening it for him to try and relax him a little. "I need to talk to you." she said as she focused on his tie, her eyes locked on the knot.

"Oh… kay…" He quirked a brow and shrugged out of his suit coat while she managed his tie, "About?" He wondered what she had to speak with him about so earnestly, "Where's Obadiah?" He could not call the kid by the nickname of Obie, his mother could and others, but not him, "Settled down already? This must be serious." He noted.

"He's napping." she said easily, leading him to the kitchen table and getting him his normal beer. She didn't sit though she obviously expected him to. Though she couldn't wait for him to completely get in the chair before explaining. "I'm pregnant." she wasn't sure what his reaction would be, so she was tentative with it, biting her lip directly after her quiet words.

He was taking a drink of beer when she said it. He swallowed hard and looked at her, "What? I'm sorry did you just say you're pregnant?" He carefully sat the beer down and looked at her, "When--- I mean when did you find out?" He was trying to remain calm and cool about this, but a part of him was just a little bit annoyed that they hadn't discussed this little surprise.

"Today." she explained quietly, sitting down in the chair closest to her, facing him, her legs tucked under her, pushing her hair back from her face, watching him carefully, worried.

"Really. Wow." He stood and ran his hands through his hair and began to pace a little, "Interesting." He went to loosen his tie, but it was already done and he sighed heavily, "So… now what?" He felt confused and almost wished she'd start laughing and go April Fools, but he knew she wasn't going to do that, "Oh boy."

She watched him. "We don't have to have it, you know." she offered quietly, trying to keep her face neutral.

"What?!" He looked at her, "Absolutely not." Oddly enough Lucas Donovan was pro life or at least at this moment anyways, "It's just unexpected… that's all." He sat back down and took a long drink of his beer almost finishing it, "Have you been to a doctor and all that yet?"

"No, but I took a pregnancy test." She whispered, feeling relief in his quick trump to her offer of abortion. She didn't like getting one before and that had been her own choice. She frowned a little. "I'm sorry." she offered quietly, focusing on her fingers for a moment

He sat there for a moment in complete silence, processing what she just told him, he knew finances weren't an issue not with the job he currently had. When she said I'm sorry it snapped him out of his thoughts and he looked at her, she looked suddenly fragile to him and instantly he was on his feet, "I'm sorry for freaking out." He mumbled and knelt down beside her chair taking her hands in his, "We'll need to make a few adjustments of course. For starters this condo isn't going to be big enough for four of us, we need a house." He looked at her, she looked so beautiful right now and he was hoping it would be a boy, a real heir for him a true one, "And tomorrow you are making an appointment with a good Doctor, the best prenatal care my salary can buy."

She laughed quietly at him, a laugh of nervousness and relief. "Okay, Lucas." she agreed gently, gripping at his hands in return. She kissed his temple. "I still have a good amount of money in my account." she said, just to ensure his mind was completely eased. "Though right now I really need to check on dinner and get Obadiah up." she whispered to try and break the tension.

"Keep your money for a rainy day should we have one." He smiled and slowly stood, "We can go house hunting tomorrow. I forgot tomorrow is Saturday, no doctor until Monday." He stepped aside so she could go and get Obadiah, moving back to his seat at the table and finishing his beer.

She carried Obadiah downstairs on her hip and set him down so he could rush over to Lucas, excited to see him. She didn't notice it herself, but she didn't use her left arm as much. Not that she couldn't use it, though it was stiff some mornings, but she had just gotten used to not using it, and thanks to the bullet it was a little weaker than before so she stuck to using her right hand. She had dinner ready quickly and shooed Obadiah from Lucas and got him settled and eating.

He patted the boy on the head and wondered how he'd take the news, he decided he would let Arleen tell him as he dug into his dinner with satisfaction and thought about how in nine months this would be a new scene before him. He had to admit a part of him was scared and nervous, but the rest of him was excited and proud.

When Mr. Hammer learned that Lucas was expecting a few weeks later he had quite the offer for him. He would keep his current designing job if he wanted it, but he was also offered to be able to do jobs for Hammer. Jobs on people who had wronged Hammer some how. Lucas's normal partner was a smooth talking Irishman who was military trained and very good at torturing people.

Arleen remained blissfully unaware of the nature of his jobs, easily segwaying into the new house, the new work and changing what time dinner was nightly. She took pregnancy easily, having a craving for Italian often and sometimes being unable to sleep at night, but she didn't complain. Much. She kept most of her friends from the older neighborhood and quickly made new ones in the new neighborhood, not very far from the old and they all tittered over her while their husbands all shared beers and congratulations with Lucas. Arleen had been hoping for a son, as Lucas had, but she was still thrilled about the fact she would be having a daughter. She was almost scarily calm with it all. Obadiah wasn't sure how he felt about it all, but he played a game he had learned from his father, which was waiting, watching, and assessing.

Lucas was oddly calm as he gathered her things and got Obadiah out of his little race car bed. He held the kid with one arm and grabbed Arleen's bag with the other and ushered her out the door and into the car, strapping Obadiah in quickly and then taking off for the hospital. He had a few calls to make, canceling a few jobs and getting a couple of days off besides. He managed to get them to the hospital with time to spare he hoped as he held Arleen into a wheelchair and rolled her inside, "Hello? Someone pregnant woman about to give birth here people." The desk nurse blinked and stood quickly handing him the paperwork to fill out, "I'll take her back. Just fill that out and I'll escort you back to where she'll be okay." Lucas nodded, rather reluctant to hand someone that was his over to a complete stranger, but he managed to let her go and filled out the paperwork swiftly, leaving it on the desk and walking back in the direction the nurse went carrying the sleepy kid in his arms as he went.

Once all was said and done and they were left alone in a hospital room Arleen helped Obadiah onto the bed so he could snuggle against her side. He was quiet, watching the baby girl with a calculating stare. Arleen sat up a little more and carefully offered Abigail to Lucas

He had to admit it was a life changing experience. He looked at the tiny bundle being held out to him, amused at Obadiah's expression at the baby and then slowly took the little breathing pink creature into his arms. The top of her head had some hair and her face look so delicate, he stared at her as she wiggled a little and curled and uncurled her fingers, "Hello there." He glanced briefly to Arleen feeling like a slight idiot before looking back at this small thing that he had helped create.

Arleen looked amused. "It's good to talk to her, Lucas." she mused, not hiding how funny it was to her as she paid some mind to Obadiah to ensure the transition wasn't hard on him.

He glanced to Arleen again and nodded swallowing a large lump in his throat. He noted her eyes were closed and he looked back at the woman he loved almost more than anything in this world, the only thing that had her beat currently was their daughter, "Is she sleeping?" He asked having no clue what so ever about babies and such, "She seems so small." He held her a little closer to his chest and studied her intently and then glanced to Arleen and back again a few thoughts entering his mind.

Arleen reached over and lightly tickled the baby through the blankets. Baby blue eyes opened and glanced right up at Lucas. "Now she isn't." said Arleen, fighting a laugh. "And that's because she is. Six pounds even."

He blinked and looked down at those bright blue eyes finding them very mesmerizing. He quirked a brow and gave one of her little pink feet a tickle, chuckling in a fatherly tone when she wiggled in annoyance, "Adorable." He didn't notice Obadiah looking at him almost forlornly, "You know I wanted another son, but I wouldn't trade my little Abby for all the boys in the world." He placed a small kiss on the top of her head and handed her back to Arleen and looked to Obadiah, "So what do you think kid?" He watched the almost four year old studied his new baby sister and make a small face, "it's weird." He said in a small voice and continued to watch her even more now which made Lucas chuckle a little bit.

Arleen gave her boys a look and re-swaddled Abigail and settled back. They were home by the next day and Arleen was trying vainly to keep up with her normal routine of cooking every meal and cleaning the house and chasing after Obadiah, with the added task of Abigail, but it just took that serious look from Lucas before she accepted that she was restricted for a short while until she was resettled.

It felt like months had passed with the new arrival, but in fact only days had, or rather a week had. He tried to help as much as he could to let Arleen rest, but Lucas' lack of patience wasn't always helpful. It was that next Monday morning during his sixth cup of straight black coffee that he watched Arleen with Abigail and Obadiah. Watching them while eating his cereal that he realized there was something wrong with this picture, he wasn't sure what he should refer to Arleen as. She wasn't just his girlfriend anymore and significant other just sounded stupid. He finished his cup of coffee and sat the mug in the sink and turned, "I think we should get married."

She looked up very slowly from her game of tickles and kisses with Abigail, studying him, trying to see if he was being serious or not. "...Seriously?" she asked gently, frozen, perking a brow at him.

He looked at her and nodded, "Sure. Why not? Abigail needs a secure family life…" He glanced briefly to Obadiah, "As does our son." He took a bite of cold toast and leaned against the counter, "We can do this however you want. Big fancy wedding, just us in a court house, on the beach… it's up to you. And don't worry about cost."

Arleen looked a little startled, but she slowly got herself back together, scooping up Abigail. "And your son has a name." She said, worried that the 4 year old would be thrown by his fathers coldness. She held their daughter close, leaning against the counter as well, facing him. "Are you doing this out of want or obligation?" she asked quietly, studying his face.

He ignored her comment about his son having a name, he knew that. He looked at her slowly trying to figure out how to answer her question properly, "Both." He held up his hands palms out, "Let me explain. Growing up I was raised that it was obligatory for a man and a wife to marry when they've had a child, usually its preferred before hand, but yeah. Anyways. I also want to because," His hands moved, pulling her face closer to his, "I can't imagine spending my life with anyone else but you." He kissed her gently, lovingly until a disgusted sound from Obadiah brought him back to the fact they weren't alone.

She gave him a look. "We've had two children." she whispered, the look in her eyes telling him he'd better learn to keep his story straight. She kissed him gently in return, their daughter between them, her head on Arleens collarbone. She smiled gently, looking up at Lucas. "Courthouse would work beautifully." she said softly, in that quiet voice that had never changed over the years.

He said nothing, he wasn't not including Obadiah, but biologically he wasn't theirs. They just didn't tell him that. He quirked a brow at her comment about the courthouse, "Are you sure? I think you would look fantastic in a light dress walking towards me on the beach, barefoot while the sun sets." He was being romantic, sweeping her off her feet in a matter of speaking. He knew how to charm, especially this woman that was soon to be his and only his.

She flushed a little, looking down at the counter. "I love you, but I am fine with something simple and quick. I don't want to have to plan for a long time."

He nodded, "Okay. Work your magic and get us set up and I'll see you when I get home." He eyed his watch, "I might be a little late getting home however, there's a big meeting and it'll probably run over." He had almost forgotten it was Monday, he did two jobs on Mondays.

"Late dinner, got it." she said, smiling to him and kissing him. She did indeed work her magic and was barely a month later that they were married. She quietly demanded simple rings. Just a gold band for him, a gold ring for her with a small diamond in it. She was happy. She was surprised at how much better being married to him felt. She settled in a little more, not that she was aware she wasn't well settled in with him already.


	24. Chapter 24

Tony sought refuge in Pepper. He never asked about where Harold had gone. Though he didn't terminate his employment either. After a few months he quietly suggested Pepper move in full time with him. He was still working on getting better physically and emotionally. And while Pepper went through the belongings of the house she would come across divorce papers, already signed, paired with a note telling her that if he didn't return fast enough for her she could divorce him. Tony, much like with the deaths of his parents, had good days and bad days. On the bad days, no one could speak to him, not even Jarvis. He would just lock himself somewhere and drink. He was skittish with Pepper, not wanting to get the idea of marriage in his head, scared he has a curse on his head that killed people near him. But 6 years had suddenly passed, and he looked his age, which was pushing 40.

Pepper held the divorce papers in her hand… she had never signed them, never turned them in. They remained in the bottom drawer of her desk locked away. Today however she was looking at them, studying them and wondering should I sign them, do I want to? All these questions and more pounded through her mind as she sighed heavily and put them back into the drawer and locked it. It was early evening as she glanced out the window watching the sun slowly begin to dip into the pacific when she stood and made her way out of the office with an idea she had been mulling over all day and as well as the desire to make something for dinner.

Tony was sitting on the couch, a glass of scotch held on his arc reactor, the news on, watching for something, anything, for him to do, to save. Harold hadn't contacted Pepper in several months now.

She looked at him sitting there, he looked different. Old, aged… very rough around the edges. She noted her own reflection in the floor to ceiling windows, she wasn't any better. Worry lined her face almost constantly; her hair had darkened a little and there was a tiny bit more curve to her frame but nothing extremely major in change. She stepped into his line of sight, not blocking the television, but just enough that he'd glance at her, "What would you like for dinner?" She'd bring up her idea over said dinner.

He looked over at her. "I'm feeling cheap today. Something cheap and easy. Like mac and cheese, or ramen. Or home made burgers. Something like that." he mumbled, grabbing his glass and standing. He moved over to her and chanced a small kiss to her temple. "Thanks in advance for dinner." he whispered.

Her eyes closed briefly as his lips touched her temple. There were off hand moments like this often between them, in them there was comfort and something more… something that she longed to give into but couldn't bring herself to do. She nodded and decided the macaroni and cheese sounded good and moved into the kitchen and began to get to work, her mind on the divorce papers gathering dust in her desk and the idea she was going to present soon.

He sighed and turned off the TV and followed her into the kitchen, sitting on the counter after getting himself a coke from the kitchen.

The sudden silence bothered her; she turned and almost dropped the wooden spoon in her head when she saw him sitting there. She hadn't noticed him get into the fridge or sit down or anything, she had noted the lack of sound from the direction of the television but that was all, she had been too lost in her own thoughts, "Maybe I need to invest in a collar with a bell to put around your neck." She mused, recovering quickly even though she knew he could tell she had been in deep thought.

He gave her an almost Cheshire cat grin, keeping himself from saying anything by taking a drink of his coke. He helped her cook by staying out of her way and making some toast. He had learned long ago it was better to keep clear or her as he just slowed her down in the kitchen.

Over dinner, Pepper presented to Tony that, maybe, what they both really needed, was a vacation. He agreed happily, he was sick of being in his house, in the office, in Malibu, but he couldn't bring himself to move. It would be too much work, he had silently decided.

She was surprised at how well he agreed with going on vacation. She had suggested Hawaii because it was the one place that Stark Industries didn't have any investment in so far, mostly because Tony's rival had a large stake in the place.

It took about a month or so and they were in Hawaii enjoying the various activities there. Pepper had talked him into just spending most of the day relaxing on the beach and not doing much of anything. She envied his tanned skin whereas she had to put on a ton of sunscreen just so she wouldn't turn pink. Once she was fully slathered over the front part of her body she glanced to him almost coyishly, "Tony… could you, um… put some of this on my back, please?"

The years passed easily until Abigail was 3 and Obadiah was in first grade. They went to the beach often now that their children were old enough to enjoy it, particularly Obadiah, who loved the ocean. Arleen was sitting on a towel with Abigail sitting next to her, the two of them building a sand castle of sorts. She still looked fine despite her creeping age. Her hair was just past her shoulder blades, where she normally kept it, blowing slightly in the breeze, the sun had taken some of the pale from her skin, her body still shaped thin despite the birth of their daughter, though her hips had stretched and she had some stretch marks on her stomach from not being as diligent with lotioning her stretching belly as she wanted to during pregnancy. She buried Abigails feet in the sand and smiled at her squeal of enjoyment, kissing the side of her head

Lucas had purchased a couple of body boards and was trying to teach Obadiah how to knee surf. The water was delightful, cool and refreshing. It seemed to most like the two were bonding, having a father and son moment, "Obadiah you have to hold the board so it doesn't slip out from underneath you, like this. Watch." Lucas snatched his board up and moved onto the beach and watched the waves, he was getting annoyed having to explain this part over and over. Seeing a decent wave he ran towards it as it headed for the shore and went down on his knees holding the board tightly and made a series of skids and turns across the surface before wiping out. He waded back to his son and nodded at the beach, "Your turn kid."

Arleen was watching her boys play in the water, smiling to herself. Obadiah had been spending all this time calcuating the waves, using math and figures and since he had no paper it took him longer than normal, but he finally had it and he mimicked Lucas perfectly this time.

Tony agreed easily, though he had on a muscle shirt under a t-shirt to hide his arc reactor and scars. He worked the sunscreen into her skin, kneeling behind her, watching everyone on the beach and he paused when he spotted a man with short blonde hair, talking to a boy around the age of what his son would be at by now. His hands stilled on her back.

Pepper blinked as Tony's hands became still and she turned to look at him, "Tony?" She asked worried at the expression on his face, "Are you okay? What's wrong?" Maybe this had been a bad idea.

"Finally." Lucas muttered under his breath and then smiled and clapped offering Obadiah a high five as he came back over, "Well done. In a few years I'll teach you how to really surf." They shared a moment were he messed up the kid's wet hair and then froze looking across the beach as his eyes met with a very familiar face, "Come on, it's starting to hit the hot part of the day. We should head home." He grabbed their boards and hustled Obadiah towards his mother, "Arleen, gather up the stuff. We need to go, Obadiah isn't feeling well." He lied, giving his son a bit of a look, "But Dad…I'm fine." Lucas shook his head and pulled his son against him tightly, "Always trying to be the tough guy, its okay kid." Obadiah gave him a weird look and shrugged.

Arleen raised a brow at him but said nothing, doing as she was told. Though Tony was already close enough to be heard when he said, "Donovan." his voice a bit sharp and commanding. He had an aggressive posture so Arleen scooped up Abigail and got between Tony and Obadiah.

Lucas turned not realizing that Tony was that close to them and quickly pulled Obadiah back behind him and stepped up next to Arleen, "Hello Tony, fancy seeing you here." His tone and mannerism was cool and collected as if they were old friends somehow, "And Miss Potts." He noted the redhead looking suspiciously at all of them and nodded to her.

Tony studied Obadiah, and instantly knew who it was. The hair, the eyes, the age. He could tell. He swallowed to try and end the dryness in his throat. "How old is your boy, there?" he asked, fighting to keep his hands and body still. Arleen took over watching over Obadiah, wrapping her free arm around her sons shoulders and tucking his body against hers, his face against her ribs. He looked confused as to why they were talking about him.

Lucas knew that one day this would happen; he just didn't expect it so soon. He had heard reports that Hogan was out looking for Tony's son. He even heard reports that the man had been in Hawaii, but he had never seen him, "He's six." Lucas looked at Arleen trying to tell her to be calm when Obadiah spoke up, "Um Dad, I'm seven." Lucas blinked and casually looked down at the boy, "Oh, you're right Obadiah." He glanced briefly to Stark, "Well we were just leaving, but you two enjoy Hawaii." He moved back a step, motioning to Obadiah to help finish gathering things up.

Tony cringed a bit and sucked in a slightly shuddery breath. He's fighting back every single emotion his heart is screaming at him to feel. He just smiles weakly, sadly, his breath coming in shaking, shallow spurts. "You've... Done well, for yourself." he whispered, clenching and unclenching his jaw, tears in his eyes as he glanced at Obadiah.

Arleen got the kids all packed up and now worried about the mental state of the man who had called the families last name so sharply, so she shooed them off, grabbing Lucas's arm gently to try and get them moving.

"Glad to see you doing well yourself." He said simply, giving a nod to both of them and turning to walk with Arleen taking her hand tightly. He glanced back briefly over his shoulder and decided he would contact Mr. Hammer as quick as possible about a transfer somewhere else, somewhere that couldn't be traced, he didn't want Tony ruining what he had now… and honestly he didn't hate the man so much anymore, if anything he felt sorry for him.

Pepper had been silently watching, her lips parted a little in surprise at what she was seeing. She stood and studied the young boy that had called Donovan Dad and felt a heavy lump in her throat. That man was evil to the core, how could he do something so cruel. She wondered if she could get into contact with Harold, but she had no idea where he was now or if he was even still… alive. She came up behind Tony slowly and placed a hand gently on his arm saying nothing.

He leaned back against her, breathing hard. He just watched them walk off, watched the boy with the dark, almost black hair, the blue eyes. He was breathing so hard his chest hurt, ribs straining with the healed cracks, the casing of his arc reactor pulling at his skin.

She put her arms around him and held him for a moment. No one around them suspected anything the matter; she waited a moment and then slowly parted them a little so she could look at him, "Let's go back to the hotel, okay." She picked up her bag and stuffed their towels, her book and grabbed his hand tightly, leading him towards their beach front hotel just up the way.

"What was that all about?" she asked, furrowing her brows at Lucas, her voice a bit sharp. Her voice _never_ got sharp.

He looked at her and licked his lips slowly, "That was my ex boss. We didn't get along very well." He noted and kept his pace leisurely as they moved towards their car, "It's nothing to worry about, he's probably just mildly upset to see me happy with you and our kids. He was married once, but his wife was killed in a car crash." He was lying through his teeth almost, he was just leaving out the part about his ex boss having a son, or having had a son.

She paused to slap him, and quite hard. "Don't you dare insult my intelligence like that." She snapped at him. Obadiah cringed and backed off, worried about what might happen. Her skittishness was still strong, though Lucas rarely lost his temper. But she was so angry at him. She was smart, she was able to piece together what she had seen. And for him to lie to her, she couldn't hold back well.

"Damnit Arleen!" he rubbed his face and then ordered the kids to get into the car now before cornering her against the back and glaring at her, "And why do you believe that I'm insulting you? Have I ever insulted you, huh?" His voice rose a little, his eyes shifting to glance at the people taking notice of their argument, "Get in the car. We'll finish this at home. Now." He took her wrist and pulled her towards the passenger side, opening the door and helping her in before walking around to the driver's side, getting in and speeding off.

He was dazed, but he let her move him, keeping his composure until they were inside the hotel room. Once he closed the door he just sank down against it, his head in his hands. He was breathing carefully, slow, even breaths, trying to keep his focus on revenge, or anger, and not seeing the son he believed to be dead for years called by the name of his would be killer, by his rival in life.

She stared at him a moment and then slowly sat down beside him and pulled him to her, she didn't know what else to do and she knew saying it's going to be okay would only upset him. While holding him, she picked up the phone and called in some room service for lunch and sighed heavily feeling helpless.

"He fucking... He called him Obadiah." he whispered, tears leaking onto her shoulder, his arms tightly around her.

Pepper cringed and closed her eyes; she didn't know what to say to that… she had nothing to say to that. She just wrapped her arms as tightly as she could around him and let him ride out the emotions, if nothing else she was there for him… at the moment she knew it was all she could do.

"That woman knows nothing." He said, pulling away and brushing his tears off his cheeks. "Did you see the look on her face?" he asked quietly.

"I saw, yes." She bit her lower lip and grabbed some Kleenex for him, hearing a knock at the door, "That would be lunch. I'll be right back." She assured him and went to the door, giving the room service delivery boy a hefty tip and closed the door, locking it, "What are you going to do?" She asked him quietly, leaving the cart in the small dining room of the two bedroom suite.

"Part of me wants to leave her to her ignorance of what he's done." He whispered with a frown on his face.

She nodded slowly, "I think it's best to let things take their course. Let her come to you if she wants to know… often people would rather be ignorant of the truth." She sighed, her own words echoing back at her as she looked across the room to her laptop case, hiding inside the bag was the divorce papers… did she want to remain ignorant of the truth? Bound by something that wasn't real anymore?

Obadiah had never seen a fight between his parents. Arleen always was obeying and quiet, and thus Lucas was always doting and fawning over her. She was quiet, but pushing out anger and mild fear on the car ride home. Obadiah snagged Abigail and quickly got into the house, not wanting to be around for his oft mild mannered father to lose his temper. Arleen got out of the car, but pressed her back against the side of it once she got out, the fear in her eyes, worried he would hit her. She had gotten comfortable, and forgotten how men could be, and she was waiting to feel the old feeling of the burn of a slap. She just watched him, waiting.

"Answer my question, Arleen." He walked up to her, cornering her again, "And don't cringe, I'm not going to hit you." He stated simply and folded his arms to prove the point, "What makes you believe I've insulted your intelligence?" He waited, far too patiently for her answer to come.

"You lied right to my face. And he blatantly asked about the son we mysteriously got 6 years ago in a warehouse of sorts when a deal went bad. That man was hurting. And it has something to do with Obadiah. You've lied to me, and to do it right to my face..." she whispered, shaking her head. Her heart was pounding sharply in her chest and despite his words she was still scared, her pupils expanded, obviously antsy and jumpy.

A part of him wanted to hit her, to make her stop figuring these things out, "You're jumping to conclusions… he said nothing about our son. Nothing." He gripped her shoulders tightly, "Nothing is going to happen Arleen, he's our son. He's known only us. Now get a hold of yourself." He forced her to look at him, "Getting all upset won't help the situation, it'll upset Abby and it'll bother Obadiah. It's bothering him now, he's never seen us fight. Never so let's keep that track record shall we?" His voice wasn't raised, but there was a commanding tone to it as he held her shoulders.

"Please, Lucas. Don't keep me in the dark. I can't help you if I don't know what is going on." She whispered, trembling slightly under his hands. "I won't judge you." she whispered, even quieter.

He stared at her, slowly releasing her shoulders, "You will. You're judging me now; I see it in your eyes." He stepped back, moving towards their house, turning just before getting to the door, "If you love me… if you love our son, you will not ask these questions again." He looked at her almost pleading.

She gave him a look that said she didn't like love being used against her, but she was quiet, her arms folded as soon as he let go of her shoulders. She nodded a little to him and waited until he disappeared into the house to slowly slide down against the car, putting her face in her hands, crying quietly for a few minutes before forcing herself to calm down and brushing off her tears, sobering herself up again before going back into the house.

He walked into the house and went into the kitchen for a glass of water, steadying his nerves. They had all had quite a shock today and it would undoubtedly change a few things. He could feel another presence in the kitchen and he turned and looked seeing Obadiah standing there, "No questions, okay? It's nothing. Your Mother and I are fine, go watch cartoons or something and forget about this." The boy nodded slowly, but Lucas could see the doubt in the kid's eyes and he knew questions would come. He waited for Arleen to enter, the house oddly quiet which he hated and he walked up to her, "Why don't we order out for dinner tonight?" He pulled her against him, running his hands up and down her back, "It's going to be okay." He assured her, plans already forming in his mind to make it okay.

She pressed into his chest, sniffling just a little to keep her tears at bay, whispering "Okay." to his suggestion of dinner. And after a very pregnant pause she whispered, "I trust you, Lucas. Never stopped."

"Thank you." He whispered. Slowly letting her go and lifting her face gently up to his, "No more questions, I hate to see you cry." He muttered and kissed her softly before letting her go completely, "I have a few calls to make, I'll be in my study if you need me. Order whatever sounds good to you and Obadiah for dinner." He turned and headed down the hall, closing the door of his study and leaning back against it running his hands over his face and into his hair.

Obadiah said Chinese and Arleen agreed. She got what she knew Lucas liked and she made a plate for him, knocking lightly on the door to his study before opening the door just enough to place the plate on his desk, and left again to show she wasn't snooping. She got the kids to bed, and told Obadiah that he was their son, and that she didn't know anything more about what had happened that afternoon. She was completely honest on both counts. as far as she was concerned, Obadiah was her son. She kissed his temple after making sure he was tucked in perfectly, and then showered the sand and beach off herself before getting in bed. She had plans to try and find out what was going on the very next day.

Lucas spent most of the night in his study and stumbled into bed about three am or so. He kissed Arleen's cheek and wrapped his arms tightly and possessively around her before nodding off.

The next day Arleen called the hotel they were staying at, and surprisingly was connected to the room. Tony growled at the phone and ignored it, still in a foul mood

Pepper answered it slowly, her professional tone chiming into the phone even with a simple, hello. She nodded slowly and walked into Tony's room and looked at him, "Tony. It's her." She placed her hand over the bottom of the phone, "She wants to talk to you… us…" Why the woman had said us was beyond her, unless she believed Pepper to be Tony's wife which she found humorous and aggravating at the same time.

Tony agreed to meet Arleen, and was silently heartbroken that his son wasn't there as well. Arleen tried to figure out everything that had happened, the three of them sipping coffee outside a small cafe. It was obvious she knew nothing of this, so Tony did his best to keep things to facts, and not skew it to one side or the other, and some how managed to maintain his cool.

Pepper was silent for the most part, she watched the woman, Arleen, carefully. How could such a nice person marry someone like Lucas Donovan? She was dumbfounded by this, but she said nothing… often love is blind, she glanced briefly to Tony, sometimes love is also stubborn. She reached beneath the table and placed her hand on his, offering him comfort and stability under the circumstances. She was proud of how he was conducting himself, the calm he was maintaining.

He squeezed her hand in return, a quiet desperateness in his features. But he made it through. Arleen gave him a hug, which he returned, for some reason trusting her enough for that. Tony agreed that it was best to leave his son with the family he knew. That taking him away from it wouldn't be fair to him. It was with a heavy heart he did so, but it was for his son, and Tony long ago and stopped being selfish.

After the encounter with Arleen, Pepper had decided the vacation was over and got Tony back home. For weeks he seemed like a ghost of himself again and she was distracted, worried and often lost in her own thoughts. She tried to help him get over what had happened, accepting his offers to take her out to dinner and such, anything to distract him from the truth he had learned. A couple of weeks passed and she found herself staring at the divorce papers again and at the picture of her husband on her desk, "I know what you'd want me to do…" She whispered quietly, he would tell her to be there for him, to forget me. She wasn't sure if she could do that, if she wanted to face reality, if she could without feeling guilty every second.


	25. Chapter 25

By six he was up and heading into the office, requesting a special meeting with Mr. Hammer. In the meeting, Lucas' request was met with appreciation, the head of the company nodded, "Very well, Lucas. You do excellent work and I could use you over in London. I have plans there, big plans and I find you worthy to help make them a reality for me." Lucas was relieved, happy, he thanked the older man and was glad he'd have some interesting news for Arleen when he got home, plus he knew England had some great schools for Obadiah and Abigail when she was of age.

Arleen promised him she wouldn't ask questions, but put her foot down about moving the kids. She had spoken to Tony and Pepper, and had found out what had happened. Though it was startling, she didn't judge Lucas. Her motto of 'Everyone deserves a second chance' getting her through any of the details that were hard to swallow. She gently informed Obadiah what was going on, wanting to keep him in the loop with who he was. He took it well, and asked no questions. The family went back to being a perfect little family. And soon Abigail was going to school as well, in Kindergarten. Arleen gave Lucas a true heir shortly before Abigail turned 6. They named him Stephen.

One day, when Abigail was 9, Arleen wasn't to pick her up from school. So she walked to Obadiahs school. He got out later, but still no sign of Arleen. Thankfully the walk wasn't very far and they came home to see Arleens car still in the driveway. Obadiah had keys to the house, and he pushed the door open slowly, protective of Abigail. When he heard nothing within in the house he moved in. Abigail looked around downstairs while Obadiah looked upstairs. Abigail found a note and after reading it through a few times she called her fathers work, something she knew was a big no-no. Another thing that was a big no-no was cutting him off, which she did while he was still saying hello. "Daddy... Who is Stane?" she asked quietly, a little bit of fear in her voice.

Lucas froze, his anger in his daughter's lack of manners subsiding instantly, "Why sweetie?" He asked carefully, already up and gathering his belongings off of his desk, "Tell Daddy how you know that name please." Something in him made him feel suddenly sick as he waited for her reply.

"Mommy and Stephen are gone, the house is a mess, and there's a note that says "Lucas, We need to talk. I've grabbed a bit of leverage to ensure we talk. -Stane"." She struggled on leverage and ensure and was obviously unsure about saying Lucas's name.

Lucas took a deep breath, thinking quickly, "I want you to go in your bedroom and stay there. I'm on my way home. Is Obadiah there?" He asked, turning off his computer, "Tell him to do the same thing if he is okay. I'll be home real soon." He hung up without saying good bye and informed his secretary that he would be off the next couple of days. He sped home, luckily not running into any cops and rushed into his house noting the disarray, "Abby, Obadiah? I'm home." He saw the note by the phone and picked it up, worry crossing his face along with fear.

Abigail had told Obadiah what their father had told her to do, and they had hidden together in Obadiahs room. They both came down and Abigail wrapped her arms around Lucas, letting out a very small whimper.

Lucas gave his daughter a hug and looked to Obadiah, "I need you to contact the babysitter and tell her that you and Abby need to stay with her a couple of days. I'll make it worth her while." He looked to Abby, kneeling down eye level with her, "Go pack your things okay." He smiled at her and gave her a gentle fatherly nudge towards her bedroom before looking over the note again for any signs of how to contact his old mentor. Puzzled by the lack of contact information, Lucas pulled out his cellphone and brought up the contact Obadiah Stane and hit send before putting it up to his ear and waiting.

Stane picked up on the first ring. "You got my note I see." His voice was darker, lower, metallic, almost robotic. He chuckled and it sounded more terrifying than any laugh he had ever produced.

Lucas' face went sheet white as the voice came through on the line, "Yes..s-s-sir, I did." He managed to get the words out, "Aren't you supposed to be… well… dead?" Lucas felt fear for the first time in his life.

"Takes more than that to kill me." he said, his smirk evident in his voice. He told him where to come and told him to come alone and to tell no one.

He hung up after the details were given and looked around his house, "Abby, Obadiah…" He cringed saying the name, "Let's go. Now please." He was trying to remain patient and calm in front of them as he held the front door open and looked around his home again, his mind almost able to see the struggles and the chaos that left it all looking like it did now.

They did as they were told, Abigail clinging to her teddy bear, obviously very scared, though Obadiah was doing a marvelous job at soothing her and was keeping her away from the verge of tears. They left the car at the baby sitters house, asking their father no questions.

Tony had been alerted by Jarvis about 3 months ago that Obadiah Stanes user account and password had been used from Hawaii, but he thought nothing of it. He assumed it was Donovan using it for something. He received a call from his son, who explained a long situation involving Stane. Tony didn't even think, he just suited up and burst out of there for Hawaii.

Hearing that familiar sound, Pepper stood and eyed the window, she watched what would appear to most as a jet heading off into the distance, but she knew what it was. She sat back down in her desk chair and slowly picked up a pen and began to sign her name in the appropriate places with tears in her eyes. She had no idea why Tony was taking the suit out; he hadn't touched it for a while. Suddenly Jarvis was there, startling her; she noted his glance at the papers on her desk but said nothing. She folded them over, hiding them and looked to the projection of the AI, "Yes?" She felt her heart drop and the blood drain from her face as Jarvis launched into an explanation of why Tony had taken the suit out.

The place Stane had spoken of was a secluded shack more inland. The front door was ajar, to tell Lucas to just come in, and once he opened the door he would see Arleen sprawled on her side, blood staining the ground around her darkly from a wound on her lower stomach. She was unconscious or very weak, as Stephen was curled up tightly against her, whimpering and fussing without response. Her hair was flared out and a good amount of it dyed darker thanks to the blood.

He stood there at the open door, unable to move at first. He knew his old mentor well; he knew he would be waiting. He wanted to run to his wife and child, but that would be typical and Stane would be expecting typical. He stayed in the door way, just sort of being fully inside the shack, "Why are you doing this?" He called out, afraid of the answer that would come from the shadows.

"You let me die. And how do you repay me? Taking Starks son and naming him after me?" He chuckled again, a dark and horrible sound. He seemed to have to particular point he came from. "Better hurry, Donovan. She'll bleed out if you don't act soon. And once she dies I go for the boy."

He shuddered and walked in, "How was I supposed to save you? You were dead… what could I have done?" He hissed as he walked, trying to keep from shaking and swallowing his fear, "I honored you by doing that. I got even with Stark for you. I did it for you!" He yelled, his voice echoing as he stopped mid way towards his wife, "What have you done to her…" He saw the wound more clearly now and it made his blood run cold.

He was there suddenly, grabbing Lucas by the throat and lifting him off the ground. The sun caught some of the metal on him. It was probably close to what Tonys skeleton was starting to look like, metal reinforcing his jaw and cheek on one side of his face, the eye looking almost like a camera lens, if one could get close enough to examine it. "She will give you no more heirs." He said with a small laugh, his hand gripping Lucas's throat tightly, but not yet tight enough to completely cut off the air flow. "But you don't honestly feel for this woman do you? A woman?" he began laughing again

He gripped the arm with his fingers and tried to fight the hold on his neck, "You son of a bitch!" He kicked and moved, trying to get free, to get to his wife, "I did nothing to you! Nothing! Why not go after Stark? Kill his pretty little personal assistant… after all she's the one who pushed the button." He felt it was getting harder to breathe as he struggled and so he stopped, not wanting to pass out, "What… who did this to you?" He felt bile rise in his throat as he got a clearer look at the man who was once his mentor.

"Your boss." He said. He threw Lucas to the ground hard, leaving him dazed just long enough to grab him by the lower part of his leg with his metal hand. "Hammer." he said, smirking broadly as he squeezed Lucas's leg hard enough to shatter the bones within. He was keeping him upside down since it would keep him awake longer if he felt like torturing him.

Lucas cried out at the blinding white hot pain that ruptured from his leg, the words that Stane said floated throughout his mind in a daze. Your boss. Hammer. He tried to block the pain, working through it, his eyes open as he looked at what was now not the man he once knew, "Stark was right. You are insane." He managed to grunt out through gritted teeth, "And now you're not even human anymore." Lucas found a wooden board and grabbed it, trying to swing it at the half man, half machine, "Go back to hell where you belong!"

He threw Lucas down hard once again. "Be careful, Lucas. I just might decide to kill that little boy of yours. You wouldn't want that, would you? Now that this woman can no longer produce them for you. Though, I suppose you can always get another one of them." He laughed at him, his mechanical eye flicking over to Stephen, the lens audibly zooming and clicking lightly. His other eye was still locked right onto Lucas.

It was in this moment that Lucas Donovan realized he had changed, that he wasn't quite the man he once was… that he wasn't anything like his mentor, or should it be said now, ex mentor. He had done some pretty rotten things, but now he knew why he had done them, Stane had poisoned him. Stane made him who he was true, but he had gotten a lot further without the corrupted man. He hit the ground hard and coughed, the world around him dancing a moment or two before he pulled himself upright, "What do you want?" He asked painfully, the pain becoming harder to bear.

"Revenge. Though I am also helping Hammer get revenge." He said, smirking down at him. Arleen was waking up thanks to the voices and she cringed when she saw Lucas had been captured as well. She shifted subtly, trying to protect Stephen a little more, her eyes locked onto Lucas.

"What do you mean…" He felt like he was going to blackout soon, but he did his best to fight it, his eyes moving to Arleen as she stirred before quickly focusing back on Stane, " What are you talking about?" He was scared, it was showing more now, his face white with pain, his eyes wide with fear.

"Your father stole secrets from Hammer and gave them to Howard Stark. Funny how that works, isn't it?" he asked, laughing darkly. He noticed that Lucas was wavering so he moved closer to Arleen. "I know what will wake you up more." He said, smirking broadly, reaching for Stephen, Arleen tried to shift away, shaking from pain.

"No! Kill me! Don't hurt my wife anymore or my son you bastard!" He looked at Arleen and mouthed I love you before looking back at Stane.

Suddenly Iron Man dropped down through the ceiling, and like before, he concentrated the power of his arc reactor through the chest piece, blasting Obadiah through a wall of the small shack. He glanced over his shoulder at the Donovans that were present then stalked after Stane, angry.

The shack shook and Lucas covered his face as parts of the ceiling fell around him. He cowered at the sound of something large crashing across the room and opened his eyes to see the one thing he never wanted to see come to his rescue. Iron Man. Tony Stark in his damn suit. He glared at the gold and red figure as it stalked after Stane and slowly crawled his way to Arleen, the venomous hate in his eyes obvious.

Arleen shifted to curl against Lucas, moving slowly and carefully to try and not hurt herself any more than she already was. Stephen clung to his father once he was able to, not completely understanding but understanding enough to be very scared. The sound of Tony and Stane fighting was audible.

Lucas wrapped an arm around his wife carefully, his other arm going around his young son. He watched the shadows for various signs of the battle, random flashes and shakes of the shack made him wish he could stand and get him and his family the hell out, but he couldn't. He swallowed back more bile as he looked at his sickly twisted leg just laying there motionless on the dirty floor. Lucas was a strong man, a manly sort he viewed the showing of emotions as unneeded and pointless, but at the moment he couldn't stop the tears from slowly rolling down his cheeks. Surely this was hell and he had dragged those he loved down into it with him.

Arleen raised her hand and brushed away his tears weakly, frowning up at him. It was hard for her to keep her hand up like that, so she dropped it, trying to move slowly to not seem like she was as weak as she was. "I love you, Lucas." she whispered, closing her eyes, settling against him.

There was a loud blast and it got very bright for a moment before Tony could be heard cursing. He pulled off his helmet and went into the shack, kneeling next to them. "I know you don't like me, but you need my help. Will you accept it?" asked Tony, locking his bourbon eyes onto Lucas's face. The sensors in his suit were telling him just how close Arleen was getting and his eyes flashed down to her for just a moment before looking back up at Lucas.

Lucas was now nearly blinded by the pain of his leg. He looked to Arleen and nodded slowly, his eyes wanting to close, but he fought the desire to lose consciousness as much as possible, "Yes." He managed to get out and looked to Arleen and his child, "Them first." He sort of pushed his wife and child towards the man and worked on continuing his fight against what his body wanted to do naturally.

"Relax, Lucas. You're safe." whispered Tony with a frown. He already had an ambulance coming to the shack. Stane had some how managed to get away. He knew there was nothing he could do other than check Arleens blood for what blood type she was and then relay that to the ambulance once they got there. He had his helmet on again for that, helping to get the Donovan's into the ambulance. They swarmed around them like bees and Tony flew off, headed back for his mansion.

Pepper was down in the shop, it felt empty without him there tinkering away at something. It felt like… he was lost again. She swallowed her memories and waited, he would return and she had questions to ask. Jarvis had politely tried to dissuade her, but it hadn't worked, she was far too stubborn. She was far too worried. Would he return okay? Would he have injuries that she would have to doctor? She didn't know, but she hoped for the best. She grew tired of pacing and settled on the old leather sofa to wait; time was passing far too slowly in her opinion, "Jarvis?" He appeared, his hands folded primly behind his back. "Any news?" she asked.

The AI shook his head almost sadly, "No Miss Potts. Though perhaps there might be some news should you allow more than five minutes pass."

She nodded and sighed pinching the bridge of her nose. _Damn him_, she thought to herself, _damn him for his ability to make me worry._

He returned shortly there after, ripping his helmet off as soon as he was on his feet and tossing it in anger to one side of the room. Jarvis appeared and caught it easily with a small frown on his face. Tony completely ignored Pepper as Jarvis silently moved the arms of the platform to remove Tonys suit, and once Tony was stripped of it all, Jarvis placed the helmet into the machines and disappeared to let them be. Tony was obviously angry, though uninjured aside from a small amount of bruising to his left arm, apparent as he stripped out of his under armor and got himself a glass of scotch, knocking it down and then pulling on his jeans. Finally he glanced at Pepper. "It was Stane. And he got away this time." he mumbled, his voice a very forced steady calm.

She was standing when he finally acknowledged her presence in the shop. His words, the tone made her blood run cold, "What?" She knew she looked even more pale than normal at his revelation, "How?" She eyed his arm and went for the ice packs in the freezer and grabbed one and so wrap to secure it to his arm for a little while.

"Trying to figure that out." He whispered darkly, his eyes dark and sharpened, trying to think of any way that Stane could have survived the explosion.

She nodded, her arms folding almost like she was hugging herself before she slowly let them fall to her sides, "What do you need me to do Tony?" She finally got the ice pack in place on his arm and looked at him steadily. She was a hundred percent behind him and she hoped he knew that.

He shook his head a few times before finally whispering "I don't know what to do." he settled down on one of the bar stools, running his fingers through his hair.

She pursed her lips a moment and sighed, "Well obviously he couldn't have done this on his own." She looked at him, "You're a hundred percent sure it was him?" She wasn't questioning him, she believed him… stranger things have happened.

"It was him, though he's half fucking machine now." he said, looking angry again.

She pictured it in her mind, what she saw made her shiver in fear, " Okay. "She said trying to rationalize it, help him, get him thinking, "Who could've helped him do that? He couldn't have done it alone." She was racking her own brain, but Tony was smart, he'd figure something out.

"Fuck if I know. If he hadn't gone after Donovan I would have targeted him as the reason Stane is still alive." He said, resisting the strong urge to drink more.

"So that's one crossed off the list." Her hands were on his shoulders, massaging lightly, "You don't think…" Her hands stopped, "No. He wouldn't…" Or would he? But why help someone that was once his biggest corporate enemy? Pepper frowned at her own thoughts, her hands froze in place on Tony's shoulders.

"Would who what?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at Pepper, relaxing a little at her touch.

Pepper didn't hold back, "Hammer?" She said it questionably, not sure she would believe such a thing herself, but the whys and the hows were unclear if her suspicion was indeed true.

He looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened just a little, the wheels and gears in his head suddenly going three times faster than they had been before

She watched the change in his appearance and she knew he was thinking, she knew she had struck a nerve. She removed her hands from his shoulders and shifted so she could face him, watching him think was fascinating, not that she'd ever tell him that out loud.

He got up and wandered over to his keyboard. "Jarvis, can you get into the Hammer system?" he asked gently, his eyes locked on the screen.

"I will try, Sir. I may have limited time, what would you like me to direct my attention to?" he asked.

Tony thought for a few moments. "Spending. And see if you can access Justin's computer. If you can, see if there's any designs for the technology on Stane. Link the HUD and take the images from my fight with Stane, try to locate all the technology used." he ordered, his hands flat on his desk, the muscles in his back tense again.

"At once, Sir." said Jarvis before going silent, working on his task. Tony didn't move, however, waiting.

Pepper waited with him, patiently as Jarvis worked his magic leaving the two of them blanketed in silence. She saw the ice pack was no longer frozen or even cold and carefully removed it without a word and placed it back in the freezer, the click of her heels breaking the silence for a brief moment. She had a few scary thoughts running about in her mind; the most prominent being would Stane come after them next? And why did he target Lucas first or why did he period?

Sure enough Jarvis managed to put the spending reports up to the last month onto the screen, and an entire drive of technology just for rebuilding Stane. Tony was running over it, frantically looking for flaws, weak points, anything. He was so focused he didn't acknowledge Jarvis's work.

He was fully engrossed, she watched him, waiting for him to say something to tell her to do something. She settled on a stool and watched him work, "Thank you for your help Jarvis." She acknowledged the AI's involvement knowing Tony was far too wrapped up to notice anything else right now. She could stand naked in the middle of the room and he'd never know it until he was finished, a small smile flickered across her lips at such a thought as did a faint blush across her cheeks.

Tony slowly sat down in a chair. "Pepper." he said quietly, obviously preparing himself for a long night. "Can you make me some coffee, please?" He rarely _asked_ for anything, let alone to the point of throwing 'please' on the end of it.

She nodded, his voice pulling her from her thoughts, "Sure." She went upstairs; her heels the only sound as she moved into the kitchen and got the coffee maker going. She used the coffee bean grinder to make it good a fresh, she also added a little extra to make it good and strong. She was gone for around fifteen minutes or so before she descended back down, entering her code and stepping back into the visual statement of Tony Stark's mind steaming cup of fresh coffee in hand. She walked up to his desk and sat the cup down carefully, "Anything else?" She waited wishing she could do more to help him.

"No." he said, gratefully taking the cup and putting his palm to his temple, looking over the designs for the 5th time, trying desperately to find any flaw. They couldn't be perfect. He told himself they couldn't be perfect.

She nodded and settled on the sofa and picked up one of his car magazines and began to flip through it. She would be there, available in case he needed her to do something or refill his coffee. She didn't want to go upstairs alone right now, not with Stane out there alive.

Tony looked them over and over, going through the whole night, wandering to his work desk and making models of them to test them for strength and power before going back and looking through the plans again.


	26. Chapter 26

Arleen woke up in a hospital bed, a bit rattled. As soon as she was conscious she was aware she had morphine in her system and she glanced over at the IV in her arm, giving it a distasteful look. She was also aware that she was alone. She sat up a bit, unable to feel the pain in her stomach, but able to feel the small pull of her skin against the stitches she had gotten. She rubbed her head, she was a bit dizzy and disoriented, but she lightly poked her nurse button and mumbled something about how hard it would be to get the sticky residue off from the moniters on her chest.

They had put her under to stitch her up, due to the internal damages. Stephen had been stitched up as well, as he had gained a cut over his collarbone and shoulder from where Stane had grabbed him. He, along with Obadiah and Abigail, where with Lucas as the babysitter had been called. Obadiah was keeping his distance, knowing Lucas would not be happy with him for calling Tony Stark to their rescue.

"_You most likely will never walk again."_ The words echoed like a taunt inside his head. It made him grimace as he worked the stupid wheelchair contraption up the ramp of the hospital. He blamed two people for this, Stane and his adopted son. Lucas couldn't bring himself to call the boy Obadiah anymore, not even under the circumstances was he that hated. But he couldn't call him Edward either, so for now he was just, son. Son do this, Son get your sister. Lucas felt ridiculous as he shifted the little joystick to turn left and head towards his wife's hospital room. Behind him trailed a dark haired striking boy, a little curl with blond curls and worry in her eyes and a little boy without much of a care in the world. The darker boy stuck out like a sore thumb, he was different than his siblings and his father, "Son, the door." Lucas waved the boy forward and then slowly proceeded into his wife's room, "How do you feel?" He asked coming up alongside her bed and taking her slender hand in his. He felt ashamed he was in the blasted chair and it showed on his face.

"Jesus, Lucas, what happened?" she asked, tilting her head. Obadiah stood back with Stephen in his arms, watching his parents. Arleen shifted herself into what would be a painful position should she not be as doped up as she was. She wrapped her arms around Lucas, pressing the side of her face against his. She didn't care about his stubble prickling against her cheek, in fact she was happy to feel it. For a moment she had worried she would never feel it again. Arleen was a very level headed woman. She had felt fear, of course she had, but she had remained cool and in control, not letting her fear cloud her mind. In the end in probably saved her life. Arleen ran her fingers through Lucas's hair, fussing over him and his injuries, making a small sound of sadness at the state of his bruised neck.

"He. Broke. My. Leg." He managed to get out, clearly upset by his current circumstances, "Shattered the bones. I may never walk again…" He didn't sounded defeated, in fact he sounded determined, "But never mind me," He said gently returning her embrace, "how are you?" He looked at her, his eyes filled with obvious sorrow… in his opinion his status was nothing compared to hers.

"I'm fine, Lucas." She whispered, gently taking his jaw in her hands. "I want to get out of here, though. I hate hospitals." she whispered, giving him a small smile. She'd said the exact same thing after the births of their children. She had to keep her resolve, she knew the kids were near, and she knew Obadiah was feeling nervous and upset. She could just tell. She might not have given birth to him, but she knew him better than anyone. She fussed over Lucas just a teeny bit more before settling back on the bed.

Lucas hid his distaste as Arleen fussed over him, but he let her, and nodded, "That's the doctor's decision I'm afraid, Dear." He hadn't spoke to their Doctor yet, but soon he was sure, "You are missed at home." He smiled softly, "Son, why don't you take your brother and sister to the cafeteria, I need to speak with your Mother alone, okay." He cupped the boy's shoulder in a fatherly manner and gave him a pat. They were just motions however, no feeling behind them. Once they were alone, Lucas looked at his wife for a moment in silence, "I'm sure you have some questions." And he had a gut feeling he wasn't going to like some of them.

"Are you lifting the 'no questions' policy?" she asked softly, trying to tease him and lighten the mood. She was more happy her family was still complete and they both were still alive to be overly upset. And she had heard the fear in her husbands voice, and it had made her blood run cold.

He nodded, "For the moment. But be advised I may not answer some questions." He settled back and waited patiently a little unsure what would be her first question, let alone what she would ask period.

"To answer any questions you might have I spoke to Tony Stark back when Abigail was still a toddler, after the confrontation on the beach, and told Obadiah who he really was, probably how he knew to call Mr. Stark. I know that you used to work in the New York office of Stark Industries, under Stane. I know that he was more to you than a boss, I know he tried to kill Stark, I know you tried to kill Stark, and I know that everyone thought Stane was dead back in 2008. And I heard about Hammer putting Stane back together. I don't know how Stane survived in the first place, but I don't think you do either." She was being her perfect lawyer self, analyzing everything, getting details how ever she could, and piecing the puzzle together on her own. Her voice was it's normal quiet, and her eyes and tone were unjudging of Lucas, as she had promised so long ago. "What am I missing?" she asked, the only question she really had. She loved her husband, and no matter what she was in this with him. She again reached over to push his hair back, though it was too short to get in his face, she just needed to. She hated the fact she almost lost him. Or that he almost lost her. "My only real question about all this is what are we going to do?"

He stared at her in disbelief. He definitely needed to start giving her a little more credit; it was obvious she was smart. Not that he didn't believe, know or think she was anything but, but he just didn't assume her to be that aware. For a moment he didn't know what to say, what was there to say? He wasn't angry at her; he was frustrated with himself with who he was and who he had been, "Nothing that I can think of." His voice was quiet, humble like.

She smiled gently to him. "Did you forget I used to be a lawyer, Lucas? I figure things out. But I want to know the game plan. I want our children to stay here. This is where they are going to school." she said, putting her foot down as she had when Lucas tried to get them to move to England. "And why aren't you calling Obadiah by his name?"

"I hadn't forgot… I just thought I was better at hiding things." He noted almost slyly and then became serious again, "Because… because I can't." He kept the first reason to himself, the fact he wasn't very happy with the boy, "That thing that took you… that was once the name of the man that thing once was. I refuse to call him something so terrible now. Perhaps we can offer to him to be called by his rightful birth name?" Heaven forbid, that was almost as bad as calling him Obadiah.

"Oh, Edward?" she asked gently, studying him. She pursed her lips and leaned in a little, giving him a very serious, though also very sad, glance. "Or we could always just give him back to his father." she said, quiet. She knew it was the right thing to do, she could tell Lucas was twitchy just being around him, and she knew he wouldn't settle and would probably kick Obadiah out once he was 18, which was only 4 years away.

"We can give him the choice, but you're right, that might be the best course." He was all for it even if it was sort of a white flag towards his sort of enemy. He did owe Stark however and that would certainly make them even.

She nodded, her eyes downcast, settling back more. She knew it was right, but that didn't make it not hurt.

He took her hand, "It's his choice." He assured her, in the back of his mind he wanted to pressure the kid into it, "And we'll have to live with his choice no matter." He was holding back his displeasure, something he could hide pretty well from her was his true emotions.

She frowned at him but nodded. Arleen was not happy to know she had to stay another night for observation. They discharged her with some percocet, and the promise that she would come in again if anything at all happened. She continued her normal routine, just with the added tasks of caring for Lucas as well, but forced herself to keep on. She was relaxing downstairs, the younger children in bed, Obadiah sitting at the table with her, and she was speaking to him quietly, pushing his dark hair out of his blue eyes. There's sorrow in her eyes as she explains his choices for his life, making sure to praise him for his quick thinking, even if Lucas didn't apperciate it in the least.

He was in his den, study whatever you wanted to call it. He was letting Arleen talk to the boy, he couldn't do it, well he couldn't have done it nicely. This was right up the woman's alley, she was the Mother, she fit the role well in his opinion. He was working on financial matters, working the numbers to see how long the savings would hold out, especially when it came to his physical therapy bills. His insurance was still in effect for another month that was a small relief but not much. He sighed and began to hunt around for promising jobs online.

She knew she shouldn't bother him in his study, but Obad- Edward had given her his answer, and she wanted to tell Lucas, and wanted to seek comfort in being around him. "Lucas?" she whispered after a few soft knocks, setting her head against the door jam.

He looked up slowly, his face was unreadable. He studied her, he knew why she knocked and timidly peered in, "Yes?" He closed the webpage he was looking at and clasped his hands and waited.

She moved into the room but kept by the door, as if worried of invading his space. She set her shoulders against the door. "He wants to go with Stark." she whispered, wrapping her arms around her middle.

He nodded slowly, "Very well. Since you find it so easy to speak to the man, will you set up the arrangements?" His tone was flat, almost uncaring as he looked at her, "It'll be better for him Arleen, his rightful Father can give him so much more." He was trying to make this easy for her, he didn't care he was glad that soon the kid would no longer be around, a walking reminder of everything he hated.

She knew, she knew, he didn't much like the boy, but it still felt a bit like a smack in the face. It was only through the pratice of being with her abusive ex-husband that kept her hands and emotion steady. "Of course." she whispered, nodding a little. She cleared her throat lightly and said, "Also.. I.. Did you want me to get back into law? I could pass the bar here.." She spoke tentatively, knowing he liked the woman to be at home with the children and the house, but she worried. It was her job to worry.

He sighed a little and then shook his head, "Not just yet, but we'll keep that option open. I want you to be able to take care of our children like you enjoy doing." He would sell his kidney before forcing her to go back to work and leave her children at home each day, "Last resort, you going back to work. We'll manage I promise." His tone was assuring as he wheeled out from behind his desk and over to her, "I'm not going to be in this damned thing forever I can promise you that as well."

"I'm still amazed you let them give you the automated one." she whispered, trying to keep the energy in the room light to combat how far her heart had sunk.

He stared at her almost curiously, "Why not?" He shrugged, "It's easier, I can get myself around without any problems for the most part, I don't want to be any more of a burden on you then I have to be." He noted her change of topic, her little device to make him believe she was okay when in truth she was falling apart inside. He respected her for this ability, but a part of him wish she'd just let herself express because he wanted to hold her, assure her and tell her it would be okay. Sometimes he felt like he had split personalities.

She waved her hand in the air as if dismissing the idea that he was a burden. To her it wasn't that bad. When you have children, adding one more doesn't mean all that much more work, just another set of the same tasks. And she was taking it as if that was what was happening. "And you just seem like the type to want to be more active with moving around. I'm amazed you're not standing on your uninjured leg and trying to move around that way. Which I better not catch you doing for anything or I'll knock you senseless." she warned, giving him an almost motherly look.

He looked at her with a challenging look, "Then don't give me ideas woman." He settled back and then became strictly serious again, "When is Stark coming to get the boy?" He hoped soon, but a part of him that he was choosing not to acknowledge right now knew that the house wouldn't be the same and that this would be a hard adjustment for Abby and Steven, "Have you told his brother and sister yet?" Then he frowned, " I guess I can't call them than anymore can I."

She wanted to say no, they were still siblings, but she couldn't find her voice. She couldn't find it in her to leave the room either. She just slowly sank to the ground and wrapped her arms around her knees and began to cry gently into her knees.

He didn't know what to do; he moved closer to her and pulled her up and onto his lap, his arms going around her. It was an awkward position but he didn't know what else to do but hold her and let her cry. He smoothed her hair gently, whispering it would be okay, that he could come and visit if he wanted and if Stark would allow it, but Lucas doubted that would happen Stark would probably get a restraining order against him at least.

"Lucas, you'll hurt yourself." She said, trying to shift to be away from his legs, though she was pushing against his chest.

He snorted and held her tighter, firmer so she couldn't move, "Its okay." He assured her and kissed her neck closing his eyes a moment, "If I couldn't do this I wouldn't have in the first place." He said quietly, "Now when is Stark getting here?"

"I'll call him tomorrow. He'll probably come tomorrow." She whispered, relaxing against him, letting his powerful hold keep her in place.

Lucas wasn't a morning person much, but Arleen informed him that Stark would probably arrive fairly early. He was up and dressed, He managed that fairly well on his own oddly enough and rolled towards Edward's room and knocked, "Are you—" He was cut off by the door opening and the tall young man looking down at him suitcase and duffel bag in hand, "Ready to go Dad… I mean Lucas, Mr. Donovan." He fumbled and looked questioningly at the man he once called Father, "Lucas is fine." He assured the boy and rolled into the living room, "I really think you made the right decision." Lucas took his chance while Arleen wasn't in the room, "You should get to know your real Father." He watched Edward shrug and drop his bags, "I guess, sure." Lucas sighed, and grew silent waiting for his wife.

Arleen appeared at Lucas's side with a mug of his perfectly made coffee. Arleen studied her son. Well, her adopted son. It made her cringe a bit and she silently thanked heaven as Stephen started to cry elsewhere in the house. She escaped to find Stephen, though it was only long that she could be gone. And as Stephen was just crying out of lack of attention and stopped as soon as she picked him up she knew Lucas would be waiting her to come back out. So she slowly moved back out for the living room.

Tony rented a car and drove himself to Lucas's house, obviously nervous, not fiddling with the radio at all. He pushed his hair back out of his face, smoothed out invisible wrinkles in his thermal, the sleeves pulled up past his elbows to compensate the fact he had a muscle shirt on under it to hide his arc reactor. Lucas had done a good job on his face, and he was scarred from the assault physically. He knocked on the door and Arleen sighed as she set Stephen down with his toys to keep him busy.

Lucas waited patiently, looking to Edward and then to the door when the knock came. He'd let Arleen get it, it would be easier that way. He wondered if Stark would be alone or if Pepper would be standing there right behind him like she almost always ways. But this would be one of those times she wasn't, she had let Tony go this far on his own, it was his son and not hers and she knew they needed some time alone together no matter how awkward it would be. Lucas rolled back a little, his shame of being handicapped breaking through at the idea of Stark seeing him like this.

Arleen fought with herself for a few seconds before opening the door. Tony had his hands in his ridiculously expensive Diesel jeans, and he gave Edward a small, weak and unsure, smile. Arleen simply kept near the door to try and spare herself. Tony looked over Lucas and Arleen, his eyes falling back on Lucas. "You know, I have technology that could get you walking again." he offered in a whisper.

Lucas frowned, shot Arleen a pointed glance and grumbled something, "Thanks but no thanks." He offered and folded his arms almost childishly. He watched the interaction between Father and son, amused at the awkwardness as Edward gave his real father a nod, "Hey." And then nervously scratched his head and looked around the room, "Can you uh… give me a minute or two, sir? I'd like to say good bye." He looked at his real father, the resemblance uncanny, all but the eyes. He had his Mother's eyes, the Mother he would never know.

Tony nodded and took Edwards bags for him gently, moving off for the car. Arleen was keeping strong and steady. She could break down once Edward was gone, she told herself.

Edward turned slowly and went to his Mother… Arleen now and hugged her tightly, "I'll call. Maybe he'll let you all come visit or I can come visit or something. We'll work it out, 'kay." He let her go slowly, keeping his own emotions in check. He looked to Stephen playing with his toys and knelt down, "Hey kiddo. You be good." He mussed his hair a little and smiled before standing up and going towards Abby's room. She was still asleep so he was quiet and tucked a letter just under her pillow and kissed her forehead before walking out to face the man he once called Father. They looked at each other a moment and then Edward slowly extended his hand, "You tried. I get it." Lucas took his hand and shook it hard and let go without remorse, "Your Father is waiting." He motioned to the door and Edward sighed, "Yeah. Bye." He looked to Arleen, "Love you Mom." She would always be Mom no matter what. He walked to the door and closed it softly behind him and strolled out towards Tony hands in his pockets, "I hope this isn't a problem… that I'm not cramping your style or anything." He slid into the passenger seat and buckled up.

Arleen fought and kept herself together. Her brows drew together and her eyes crinkled as she pushed back the pain. She forced herself to turn away from the door, closing her eyes tightly and mumbling a question about breakfast to Lucas as she moved past him, pushing her hair back.

He turned and sighed, this was going to be a long week let alone a long day. He followed her to the dining room at least and shrugged, "Whatever sounds good to you, I know this is hard for you." He rested his arms on the table and closed his eyes a moment trying to ignore the change in the house.

"I'll get over it." She promised him gently, pushing her fingers through his hair and sitting next to him, resting her temple on his strong shoulder, closing her eyes tiredly, her breathing still deeper than normal, one hand gripping desperately at his bicep.

His jaw tensed and his eyes turned sympathetically to his wife, his shoulders slumping just a bit as his hand covered hers, his lips dropping a loving kiss to her temple. "I have you, Arleen." he promised in a whisper. He was determined to keep that promise.


	27. Chapter 27

Tony tried to adjust to it all, and over the month he had, a bit. He and Pepper had quite the battle when she realized one of Tonys "rules" was that Edward could stay up as long as he wanted. Tony still hadn't let Edward see his arc reactor. He could remember when he was a baby and trying to comfort Edward after Lucys death and if he felt the arc reactor he would start screaming. Which resulted in Tony calling Pepper and crying. He tried his best to strengthen the bond, making an easier path for Edward to get down to the beach

She didn't press the issues she had the first week with Tony, she watched him and his son have moments, but noted that each enjoyed doing their own thing; Tony the usual things and Edward either playing video games or going down to the beach. She had also stopped arguing about the staying up all night thing as Edward didn't do so much on school nights at least. She was glad his school transition hadn't been too difficult and that for the most part he got along well with his new classmates, especially the female percentage. The papers and the paparazzi were of course having a hay day with it all, but nothing she couldn't handle and after a while they began to leave the kid alone in fear of hefty lawsuits. Pepper Potts was the paparazzi's worst nightmare. She wandered downstairs late one afternoon various papers in hand for Tony to sign, upstairs the blare of a video game echoed as she entered her pass code and walked towards the man, his music instantly going away, "I've got a few papers for you to sign."

"What have I said about my music?" he asked, raising his brows over at her. But he took the papers anyway, as if his question about the music was part of their routine. To him it was, just as he no longer looked at what he signed when Pepper brought it to him.

She ignored the music comment and once the papers were signed she stood there a moment, "Why don't you want him down here?" She was curious, she had this image in her mind of Father and son working on cars together, watching a ball game and so on.

"I don't want to freak him out with anything." he explained quietly, rubbing the back of his neck and looking down at the ground. He felt stupid. He was never so nervous with anything. Not even delicate wiring in volatile warheads. Nothing could phase him, until he had to deal with children, particularly his own.

Pepper sighed, "I don't think he will." Though she wasn't sure, she knew Edward was aware his Dad was a superhero, but beyond that she didn't know much else, not even how he felt about it, "Do you need anything?" She asked, changing the subject, perhaps she should just let things take their course.

"No. I'm fine." he said, shrugging his shoulders. Though before she could leave he whispered, "I'm worried about his reaction to the arc reactor."

She turned, "Well that depends on how he finds out." She looked at him in a serious manner, "If you explain I doubt he would have a bad reaction, but if one day you come out to breakfast without a shirt he might be a little taken off guard."

"Do you remember how bad it was...? When he was little. After Luce died?" he whispered, his voice low, shakey and thick. It wasn't even so much the pain of losing what he had hoped was a constant in his life, nor the loss of his son which had played a huge part in his gray temples and salt and pepper beard. No, what always made him pale and shake was remember the car crash. Remembering his parents car crash.

"I remember… but he's not a baby anymore." She reminded him gently, moved closer to him, "This is hard for you isn't it… harder than you're letting on." She wanted to reach out and touch him, give him some sort of comfort, ease his pain.

"Maybe a bit." he agreed quietly, lifting his head and locking his eyes onto her for a moment, the sharp, deep bourbon burning into her. It was hard for him to wear his masks in front of Pepper.

She nodded, looking down a moment at her hands, "Understandable…" She looked up, "This is going to work out, I know it will." Her hand came to rest on his upper arm, "It just takes time." She couldn't relate to this situation at all, but she was trying very hard to understand, "Do you think it was a mistake to bring him back here?" She was curious; she hadn't really talked to Tony about the situation at all.

"No." he said instantly, without question in his voice. His brows drew down over his eyes a bit, his jaw tense and his face growing just as serious as his voice.

She nodded, "Good." She was relieved by that, she was afraid that there was regret, that having Edward here would remind Tony of his late wife, but maybe not maybe that wasn't a major issue, "Tony…I'm… here to help you with this as much as possible. To help both of you."

"I know." he whispered. He wanted to pull her into his lap, make a move, try to catch her as he had 15 years ago. He ran his fingers through his hair.

Her hand slowly fell from his arm as she looked at him, watching his expression… there was something almost yearning about it. She bit her lower lip and tried to ignore the mounting tension that began to rise between them, that was always there and always had been. Slowly she broke out of her own thoughts and smiled a little, "Is that all Mr. Stark?" A part of her was surprised he hadn't taken notice that she was no longer wearing her wedding ring, or maybe he had and wasn't going to pry or question.

He had. The wedding ring had been his mortal enemy. He sighed and nodded. "That'll be all, Miss Potts." she had never become Mrs. Hogan to him. She always had, and always would be, Miss Potts.

She wandered upstairs slowly, she eyed the time walking into the living room, "What would you like for dinner?" She asked, watching the game he was currently playing. Edward didn't look up from his game as Pepper's voice filled the room in a quiet manner, "Um. I dunno… burgers? I see we got a barbecue, does Dad use it or are you the resident cook?" She smiled a little, "Sometimes he uses it, I'll have Jarvis check with him if he's okay with that." Edward nodded, "Alright, though if he's too busy I can do it. I helped Da—Lucas all the time." Pepper nodded and went into the kitchen and asked Jarvis to check with Mr. Stark about Edward's dinner request.

"Oh hell, I'll barbecue. Haven't done that in years." said Tony. He wandered upstairs and outside, getting the barbecue ready and just enjoying being outside. Some days, he desperately needed to feel the breeze in his face.

Pepper decided to change from her usual work attire into a pair of jeans and a pale blue shirt. She wandered out into the back bare footed enjoying the feel of the warm concrete beneath her feet. She noted Edward was already out and watching his Dad, waiting to be asked to help out. She moved over to a chair nearby and sat down, "Nice day out, this was a splendid idea Edward." She smiled at him and he nodded, "Glad you agree." He looked to his Dad and back to Pepper again, there was more to them than they let on or wanted to let on he was all too sure.

Tony was sitting back in a chair near the grill, watching the coals warm. It was hot, he couldn't get around the fact that it was hot. He pulled up the sleeves of his thermal to his elbows, resting his head back.

Pepper eyed Tony and shook her head lightly, she watched Edward almost doing the same, moving closer to his Dad, "Why the long sleeves?" He noticed a lot of things, how his Father always wore heavy shirts, how he never talked about what he did downstairs or about being Iron Man. He wanted to talk to his Dad, but he found it easier to confide in Pepper, she was more approachable, much like the only Mother he ever knew.

"Uh." he looked unsure and he glanced over at Pepper, looking for advice. He had that odd, deer in headlights look he got sometimes.

Edward watched a silent exchange between his Dad and Pepper, his Dad's expression cried for help… meaning he was hiding something, Pepper's expression was narrowed eyes as if she was telling him to just say something he didn't want to already, but she came to Tony's rescue despite her stand that he should explain a few things to his son, "You forgot to change your shirt again didn't you. I'm amazed it's still white unlike most of the shirts you've worn down in the shop." It was the only thing she could think of, she glanced quickly to Edward and she knew there wasn't much getting passed this kid at all.

Tony sighed quietly, pulling off his thermal, leaving just a black muscle shirt. Now was as good a time as any, and maybe he could skip an explanation and just _show_ him. The jagged surgery scars were a bit visible here and there, but the glowing disc in the center of his chest would distract from that

Pepper froze, her lips parting slightly as Tony removed the thermal. She looked to Edward who was standing there, she watched him blink and then stiffen a little before smiling, "I bet that feels better." He looked to Pepper a moment noting her expression, "So what can I do to help?" He asked, his mind stuck on what the glow was in the middle of his Dad's chest.

It was a horribly hard struggle to not pull his shirt back on, and he was fighting to not fidget as well. Tony just went silent, letting Pepper take over now. He always let her take over when things were too difficult for him to handle on his own. Awkward situations was something he often found himself in. Getting into them seemed to be his forte. Getting out of them was something he could never hope to manage on his own.

Pepper closed her eyes a moment and then stood, "Why don't you come help me get the condiments?" She stood and shot Tony a bit of a look and smiled at Edward, "Sure." He chuckled, "You said condiments." Pepper shook her head, "You are indeed your Father's son." She mused and disappeared inside, Edward close behind, "I know you have questions, he's not going to tell you. I wish he would, but I'll try to answer them to the best of my ability." Edward shook his head, "That's not your job, it's his. I'll wait it out." Pepper went to the fridge and got an onion, tomato and some lettuce out and began to slice the tomato up, "Grab the ketchup, Mayo and mustard and take them out to the patio table." Edward sighed and did as asked, "Smells good Dad." He comment while placing the bottles in the middle of the table.

Tony smiled to Edward. "You're not freaked out by it?" he asked, his free hand in his pocket, his other flipping burgers. His posture and attitude was a forced relax, but he was so used to that it seemed terribly natural.

Edward paused and shrugged, "No… just wondering what the hell it is." He had never swore in front of his parents and he blinked as he did, hoping he wouldn't get in trouble for it. He doubted his Dad would say much, but he was pretty sure Pepper would've.

"It's a small version of the arc reactor. I got hit with a bomb of my own creation about 2 years before you were born." he explained quietly, though he spoke as if he was talking to someone half his sons age. "There's still shrapnel in my chest and the arc reactor keeps it out."

Edward nodded, "That's… uh cool?" He got a curious look on his face, "So can I see it?" He drew closer to his Father, the curiosity sparkling in his eyes, "Is that all it does?"

"Er. Cool isn't the word I could use for it." he mumbled. He raised a brow at his sons questions, but complied. He grabbed the hem and pulled up his shirt, letting him see it. "It powers the Iron Man armor."

"Sweet." He leaned forward a little ways to examine it closer and then blinked as a sharp cry sounded from inside.

Tony's head shot up, bourbon eyes wide and scared. "You stay here." he told his son as he moved into the house, terrified someone had broken in. It wouldn't be the first time. His stride was long and powerful, his head down and his muscles tensed in case in had to fight anyone. If they had Pepper, which is sounded like they did, he would kill them with his bare hands.


End file.
